Practice Makes Profit

On days when the weather is nice, I ride my bicycle to work. Its about an 8-mile trip each way. I was recently forced to take a hiatus due to some business traveling and a week of rain. When I finally hopped on my bike again, I found I had to stop and rest along the way. I had lost some conditioning in just that short of a period of time.

Selling self-storage is no different. In fact, its a lot like playing sports. You have to be consistent to get into and stay in shape. You have to practice. Here are two key facts to remember about sales training: 1) Practicing the fundamentals makes all the difference. 2) You have to practice often.

Lets look at a sample scenario. Its the fifth of the month, and youre dealing with a bunch of late-payers who are coming in to settle their accounts and have their gate codes reactivated. Youre also trying to help a couple that rented a unit last week and are just moving in. Then youre thinking about that deferred maintenance you put off last week. Then you get a couple of walk-ins who want to rent your moving truck.

Finally, the phone rings. You answer. The caller asks, How much is your largest storage space? You quickly blurt, Our 10-by-25 is $259 per month. The caller says, Thanks. Ill call you back if I need something. Eeek! Youve lost your sales conditioning in just a day or two of intense non-sales activity and consequently shot yourself in the foot. Your sales muscles forgot all about building value and asking good questions before giving price.

Relearning the Game

Vince Lombardi, the famous (and sometimes infamous) football coach, used to start spring training with seasoned professionals by showing them a football and saying, This is a football. He started from scratch every season, working on basic blocking and tackling, throwing and catching. Why should self-storage managers be any different than the pros?

Selling self-storage is all about stalling on price, getting agreement on the main issues, building urgency and asking for the rental. You cant practice these skills enough. Some managers who have worked in the industry for years can be completely revitalized just by loosening up their selling muscles and practicing the basics. Theyll often find theyve forgotten or neglected many of their primary skills. But with a little review, they can quickly get back in shape.

On the other hand, those new to selling storage often find the basics are similar to sales and customer-service skills they developed at other jobs. They learn they can pull their weight in self-storage pretty quickly.

Know Thyself

Watch for weakening in your sales muscles. Know when youre at risk of dropping the ball or missing your block. Take an extra second before talking to a rental inquiry, and reconnect with your selling-muscle memory. Make time to practice a few basic scenarios with your staff every day. Once a week, work on more complex selling issues. The same few come up often and are worthy of review. Over time, youll also discover new or unusual sales challenges worth practicing.

Be patient with yourself and potential customers as you field rental inquiries. Ask deliberate questions and direct the conversation. None of Lombardis quarterbacks ever threw the ball without taking a moment to assess the defense and check the location of his receivers. None of his front-line players moved off the line of scrimmage without examining the situation and relating it to training routines and strategies.

Dont be the player who chucks the ball without looking or jumps at the snap without thinking. You already know how to sell storage. You have the muscles, so dont get out of condition. Practice not only makes perfect, it makes profit.

Tron Jordheim is the director of PhoneSmart, an off-site sales force that helps storage owners rent to more people through its call center, secret-shopping service, sales-training programs, and Want2Store.com facility locator. You can read what he is up to at www.self-storageblog.com. For more information, e-mail [email protected].