Five years ago, the city of New Orleans faced the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Onlookers to the tragedy wondered if the town could survive the wreckage, let alone recover from such ruin. But today the Crescent City is thriving again. Despite ever new challenges tossed in its wake―now the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico―New Orleans continues to flourish. The city is in constant renewal, restoring itself to former and greater heights.

Managers and owners of today’s self-storage businesses have been in their own survival mode in recent years, struggling against economic decline, the toll it has taken on consumers, and the tightening of real estate and finance markets. What has seen them through? A willingness to adapt, try new things, and invest in operational tools.

The Inside Self-Storage World Expo has been a steadfast provider of these tools, supplying operators with education, connections, products and services to weather and surpass the tough times. If you’re looking for new management techniques and marketing strategies that will see you through the fiscal storm, head to New Orleans, Sept. 29-Oct. 1. You’ll get what you need to move past the squall and, as they say in the Big Easy, “let the good times roll.”

Marketing and Management Tactics

Following is a taster of the marketing- and management-related resources you can access at the ISS Expo. To read more about the show’s seminars, workshops, networking opportunities and exhibits, visit www.insideselfstorageworldexpo.com, where you can even download a detailed pre-show planner.
 
Seminar: Champagne Marketing at Grape-Juice Expense: Low- to No-Cost Ideas You Can Implement Today
What You’ll Learn: Tips and tactics for promoting your facility online, via e-mail, inthe community and through traditional print methods. You’ll hear e-mail marketing do'sand don'ts, effective ways to use social media, low-cost marketing giveaways, and strategies for creating a big marketing splash in your neighborhood.
 
Seminar: How to Buy Advertising and Create Effective Promotional Materials
What You’ll Learn: Hands-on, practical steps for creating and implementing effective marketing pieces and campaigns, including how to budget for advertising, how to buy media, how to schedule your plan components, the best methods for distributing materials, and how to track the results of your efforts.
 
Seminar: Overcoming Competition in a Cutthroat Environment
What You’ll Learn: Four core strategies for outpacing competitors as well as effective skills for leading the marketplace.
 
Seminar: Marketing From the Right Side of the Brain: Developing Skills for Creativity and Innovation
What You’ll Learn: Tools you can use to expand your creative skills and connect with your customer base―even on a limited marketing budget.
 
Seminar: Marketing About Town: Building Rapport With Local Businesses and the Community
What You’ll Learn: Twentyinnovative and proven ideas for attracting, influencing and retaining local business renters and community organizations.
 
Seminar: Powerful Selling Techniques for Higher Self-Storage Profit
What You’ll Learn: How to create increased customer visits to your facility through a more powerful sales presentation, including practical steps to overcome objections, outdo your competition, and turn your unique advantages into profit.
 
Seminar: Internet Power Marketing: The How of Online Brand Expansion
What You’ll Learn: Strategies to help control your brand online,includingwhere to find back links to your website, the top 10 secrets of super online performers, key aspects of using social media, and five absolutes for becoming a social-media success story.
 
Seminar: Secrets of Search-Engine Optimization (SEO)
What You’ll Learn: The secrets to generating more business from Internet search engines, including how to make sure customers find you, techniques to optimize your site for search, and how to optimize your Google and Bing local business listings.
 
Seminar: Self-Storage and Internet Yellow Pages: Making the Most of Online Local Search
What You’ll Learn: How to get your business to appear in online directories, how to make changes to your online listings, and how to make the most of your IYP exposure.
 
Seminar: Effective Collection Techniques: Controlling Self-Storage Delinquencies
What You’ll Learn: Techniques for efficiently and successfully collecting rent from past-due tenants, in turn adding to facility revenue.
 
Seminar: The Top Legal Threats Your Self-Storage Business Will Face in 2011
What You’ll Learn: Some of the top legal risks facing facility operators, including tenant bankruptcy, wrongful-sale lawsuits, insurance claims, issues of authorized access, and more. You'll hear steps you can take to protect yourself from liability.
 
Seminar: Managing Self-Storage Managers: Creating Sales Effectiveness and Building Confidence
What You’ll Learn: Concrete, actionable ideas for creating a sales culture and bringing out the best in existing employees, including how to increase your staff's confidence, support them in converting more shoppers to renters, and create success that is not dependent on bonuses or incentives.
 
Seminar: Money Isn't Everything: Manager Compensation and Incentives
What You’ll Learn: How to attract, develop and retain great employees, develop bonus programs, create successful low- and no-cost incentives, empower staff, improve communication, and uncover new motivational resources.
 
Seminar: Rental-Rate Management: How Owners and Managers Can Create More Revenue From Existing Inventory
What You’ll Learn: Factors involved in setting prices, why regular increases are required, when you should implement increases and for how much, and how to properly and smoothly execute these changes.
 
Seminar: Self-Storage Facility Maintenance: Checklists for Saving Money and Preventing Problems
What You’ll Learn: Guidelines for creating a maintenance plan and tips for saving money on scheduled items. You’ll get daily, weekly, monthly and annual checklists to help facilitate this important aspect of site operation and keep your facility in tip-top condition.
 
Workshop: Excelling in Your Self-Storage Operation, Brad North
What You’ll Learn: How to build a dynamic team, create a powerful employee-training program, maximize profitability through operational effectiveness, and develop a work environment of higher productivity.
 
Workshop: Marketing and Sales Boot Camp, Tom Litton
What You’ll Learn: Fiftypowerful techniques that can be implemented at any facility quickly and inexpensively―in person, on the phone and online. This workshop will inspire you to think about sales and marketing in a whole new way.
 
Workshop: Management Workshop, Joe Niemczyk
What You’ll Learn: The ins and outs of daily facility operation and what you need to run a successful storage business. This seminar will cover operational essentials, the basics of facility marketing and advertising, customer-service issues, and legal challenges.

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