» Self Storage Managers

  • Operating a Successful Storage Facility
    By jeff on December 29, 2010 | No Comments  Comments

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    Marketing can be easy. It is as hard as you make it. If you are operating a facility in the Pickering storage industry, you may be making a few mistakes from a marketing standpoint. You want to make sure that you realize who your target market is. You may want to look at renting to the customers who are looking to find the lowest possible price in Ontario or you may want to shoot for quality. There are high end renters, but they are not always going to fill up your storage units. The problem with going with the lowest priced storage is that you facility will have quality issues. You will have to deal with complaints and some situations that are unpleasant. The best thing would be to probably shoot for a site in between the two. However, there is a way to make money at all three levels.

    Marketing is much more than just advertising. However, advertising your Pickering storage property is very important. Twenty years ago, the options were pretty simple. You could advertise on Ontario radio or television. You could also advertise in the phonebook, magazines, or the newspaper. The best advertising will be word of mouth, but that could take a while. You need to supplement that will other channels of advertising. Also, without a channel of advertising, you may never have the initial customers to spur word or mouth advertising. You need to get an initial customer base. You will also need to impress the customers that you have.

    In order to make customers happy, you may need to do some things that you do not want to do as a Pickering storage manager. You may need to waive a lot fee once in a while. You may need to offer a discount on the rent if the customer has a bad experience. For example, the customer is locked out due to a malfunction in the system. This would be a time that some money off may save the customer. You do not want to lose customers due to things like this. They will tell a lot of people about the bad experience the next time they talk with them. Referrals are an important part of the business. You may want to set up some type of Pickering storage referral program.

    In todays world, you will need to explore some other channels of advertising. The internet may be the most cost effective way to advertise. You may see a better return on your investment. You will also need to understand the social networking aspects of the internet or hire someone who does. It is not enough to just put an ad in the phonebook like it used to be. The point is to get the word out as to why you have the best Pickering storage property.

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  • Effective Self Storage Management
    By jeff on November 30, 2010 | No Comments  Comments

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    There are a couple of different approaches that you can have to be the best in the Milton storage industry. You can be successful with both. You should evaluate the different approaches and decide with style would benefit you the most. As a storage owner, it all falls on you. If your Milton storage company is not doing things the right way, then that is your fault. The process is actually pretty simple.

    The first approach is the classic approach to management. You can rule your company with an iron fist. It is the fear management style. Your employees will do their jobs because they are scared of you or they are scared of losing their jobs. This may be effective because we are in a down economy so the job probably means a lot to the employee. You will need to make sure that you have someone who is a shoulder to cry on as a right hand man. You will then just play a good cop, bad cop scenario. Your Milton storage company may run smoothly this way.

    The problem with this approach is that employees will tend to do things the right way when you are around, but do not when you are not. This is a bad problem because they obviously are performing their jobs for the wrong reason. They should be focused on why they are doing things in the first place. They are there for the Milton storage customer. The customer is all that matters when you are trying to build a successful company. You should try to explain this to the employees and you should see positive results.

    The worst approach you can make is to try to be friends with the employees. There are many Milton storage owners that make this mistake. It is the complete opposite problem as above. If the employees consider you a friend, that may be good for your self esteem but they will not respect the fact that you can discipline or fire them. They need to know that you mean business, but they need to respect you. When a boss who tries to be the employees friend tries to discipline them, the results are usually not good. They may talk back which means that they do not respect you. You need to draw that line.

    Many Ontario storage owners do things the right way. They are involved and passionate. They separate themselves with the employees but handle things in positive way. Employees may not like it when they are disciplined, but they will understand why they are being disciplines. This will require you to explain the right way to do things and why you demand it. If you are passionate about the job, then they will pick up on that. Your employees are a reflection of you, after all. This is not easy. You will need to wake up everyday and be motivated to your job as an Ontario storage owner. A lot of owners have trouble keeping their focus. One month they are focused on attracting new customers and the next month it is something else. Make sure to try not to micro manage everything that the employees do and focus on the big picture. Know what you are focused on and stick to the basics.

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  • Quality Customer Service in a Self Storage Environmen...
    By jeff on November 25, 2010 | No Comments  Comments

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    Your employees and mangers are the communication of your Milliken storage company message to the customer. Thus it is vital that they are doing the right thing when you are around or not. You can verify this by hiring a company to do secret shopping. If you find that your employees are doing the things the wrong way, it may be you who is to blame. As a Milliken storage owner, it is up to you to make sure that they know the right way to do things. A lot of owners will discipline employees when their actions may have been preventable with proper training.

    For a lot of people, it is not what to do but why. Employees need to know why they are doing something in order to consistently do it. The management style of fear may not be the best approach. You cannot be a soft owner, but there is a time and place to put your foot down. Telling employees to do their job or they will not have one is not going to yield consistently positive results. There is a better way. A little education can go a long way. It is important for them to do things a certain way to attract and retain Milliken storage customers and it is important for them to know why.

    The whole process starts with the greeting. This applies to not only phone calls, but also customers that walk into your store. When a current Milliken storage customer comes in to pay a bill, they should have a positive experience. As soon as someone sets foot in your store, they should be greeted warmly and acknowledged. Think about it. A lot of big time successful companies hire people to stand by the entrance to do just this so it must work. It does work and it does mean something. It is pretty simple. When someone walks into your store, just say hello and ask them if you can help them. This will result in a positive customer experience. You need to have a lot more positive than negative experiences or your company will not be around for long. There is much more competition in Ontario than there used to be.

    Every Milliken storage owner may already know this, but they do not have a system in place to ensure that this is taking place. It is all about communicating the message to your employees. You need to be a people person or hire someone who is in order to get the message through. If a customer likes the manager, then they are more likely to rent. If the manager likes and respects you, then they are going to be more receptive to what you are telling them. Teenagers who do not like their parents do not put much stock in the advice that their parents may have for them. It kind of works the same way even though it a completely different type of relationship. However, it does show the importance of having a family atmosphere in your company. This will help make you better at handling customers than the other Ontario storage facilities. There are other articles that further explain the importance of a family atmosphere in more detail. They also explain how to achieve this goal.

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  • Greet Every Self Storage Customer With a Smile
    By jeff on November 17, 2010 | No Comments  Comments

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    You probably spend a lot of time and money making sure that your Marywood Meadow storage facility has a good image in the community. This is tough because most customers will not tell their neighbors right away about every good experience that they have. However, they will rush out to tell everyone about a bad experience that they have. Some problems are unavoidable, but most are preventable. Most problems stem from bad customer service from your manager or employee. Either way, it all falls on the manager which actually falls on you. It is necessary to let your managers know just how important good customer service is.

    You can have seminars if you like. You could call each manager weekly to see how things are going. Whatever you do, just do something. A lot Marywood Meadow storage do not do anything in terms of preaching the company message. You need to check in to see how they are doing certain things. The last thing your company needs is a rebel, someone who does things their own way. It all starts with how they greet customers. When the phone rings, they should answer the phone in a certain way. It should be upbeat and include three basic things. It should have your Marywood Meadow storage name, their name, and an offering of assistance.

    You should check in to see how they are answering the phone. You could hire secret shoppers to see how they are presenting your company to the public. This is not a witch hunt. You are not trying to find out who is doing things wrong to fire them. After all, turnover is something that could cost your Marywood Meadow storage a lot of money. The training alone can send some companies out of the black and into the red. You are simply trying to find ways for your company to improve. If someone is doing something wrong, help them to get better. If someone does a good job, jump in and be the first to pat them on the back.

    Many people are just looking for recognition that they are doing a good job. A lot of your employees dedicate themselves to your job and it is a slap in the face to reward an employee that does not care just the same as they are. If someone is doing a good job representing your Marywood Meadow storage company, then you should reward them accordingly. Some owners in Ontario may feel that is fair and equal to reward everyone the same when you are able to give a raise. However, this neither fair nor equal and may anger some of your more dedicated employees. This is a bad situation. Of course, this would require that you have a finger on the pulse of your company. This will mean that you need to be a proactive manager so that you know who is responsible for the success of your company. You cannot play favorites. A lot of storage companies in Ontario make this mistake and is easily avoidable. The manager and the employees of the storage are your marketing department when a customer walks in the door. That is the only thing about your company that matters when a customer is considering doing business with your storage company.

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  • Manage Your Self Storage Facility Efficiently
    By jeff on November 11, 2010 | No Comments  Comments

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    A lot of Markham storage owners make everything way too complicated. It is not that difficult to run a successful storage company. You just need to make more money than you spend. You just need to add more customers than you lose. There are many things that can make you lose a good customer. Some of them are inevitable and you should not spend any time beating yourself up over it. Unfortunately, there are a lot of storage customers in Ontario that are lost that are very preventable. The main thing that can cost your company customers is rude employees.

    When you do your hiring, you will want to make sure that you get just the right candidates. It would be wise to offer a little better pay than the average Markham storage facility so that you attract the right people. You want to find managers that are committed to the job and see it as a career opportunity. It should be more than a job to them. If they are personally invested in the job, then they are more likely to take necessary actions to present your company in a positive light when talking with customers. The turnover for managers should be very low. That is why it is vital to find career oriented managers and you cannot accomplish this by offering cheap wages. A lot of Markham storage owners may feel that they cannot afford to pay their managers anymore, but they really cannot afford not to. A happy employee will make ten times the money that a disgruntled employee will make.

    The little things are important when managing a store correctly. One of the keys is showing up on time. There are a lot of people that you may hire that are not very punctual. There may not be a more important thing than finding an employee that is on time everyday. Not eighty or ninety percent of the time, but one hundred percent of the time. You have store hours for a reason. It is hard to think of any companies that are successful that do not open on time. A retail store could not get away with this and your Markham storage company will not be able to either.

    There are many reasons that opening time are important, but just to touch on a few. Moving into a storage unit takes a lot of planning on the part of your customer. It is hard to plan when you do not know the when the manager will decide to show up. Even if they are great Markham storage salespeople, it is unacceptable for them to show up late. For example, someone may have rented a truck that needs to be returned at a specific time. They also have hired movers to help. The movers get paid regardless. Also, they are trying to move in before they have to be at work. If the manager is late, then they are in a very bad spot. They may even decide to visit another facility as Ontario has quite a few that could probably match the quality that you are offering. Competition is stiff so you better make sure that each customer feels important. Another simpler example is someone who is showing up to look at a few units. They will not wait long before they go somewhere else.

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  • Developing Your Storage Company’s Image
    By jeff on November 1, 2010 | No Comments  Comments

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    Developing a company image is a process that takes a lot of time and money. Well, developing a good strategy, that is. Developing a bad image is pretty easy. All you have to do is to treat your Maple storage customers poorly. Before long, you will not be bothered by those customers anymore because they will be gone. A lot of time and money is spent on getting new customers, but a lot of Maple storage companies do not focus on the customers that they have. It is important to make sure that your current customers are happy with the service that you provide.

    There may have been a time when you did not have to treat your customers with much respect. After all, there were not that many Maple storage companies. Now there are many options is Ontario so you need to differentiate yourself from your competitors. This starts at the top of your organization. You need to preach customer service every waking moment in order to get everyone on the same page. This is how it works. Think of the passion that you want your employees to have towards customer service. Now multiply that times ten. The reason that you have to do this is simple. The further down the company ladder that you go, the more the message is going to get watered down. That is why you have to go the extra mile to get the message throughout the company.

    This is something that you must speak about everyday of your business life. It is not something that you can just focus on when the quarterly reports come in. It would be helpful to focus on this when you are developing your company mission statement. Make sure that your mission statement defines your company now and in the future. It also needs to explain how you plan to take your Maple storage company from point A to point B. Before long, you will reap the rewards and you will see your company profits grow consistently each quarter. The whole process is actually pretty simple. Add more customers than you lose and the math will take care of itself. As simple as this sounds, it is amazing how much more focused Maple storage companies are on getting new customers than doing the necessary things to keep their current ones.

    To some this may seem very basic. Business is really all about doing the basics, though. So many companies in Ontario, in storage and in other fields, do not do the basics. As a small company, it comes very naturally. For example, a one store company that has just started up treats every phone call like an opportunity and will bend over backwards to help out the current customers in any way that they possibly can. After the company expands and more stores open, this seems to stop. You find something that works and then you quit doing it. Dance with the girl that brought you. If it aint broke, dont fix it. There are sayings describing what you should do. It is nothing fancy. Just do the little things better than your competitors and you will get to where you want to be faster than they will. There are other articles that talk about what some of those basics are and how to identify your weaknesses.

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  • Spending Your Storage Facility’s Ad Budget Effe...
    By jeff on October 29, 2010 | No Comments  Comments

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    When you are looking to advertise your Malvern storage facility you will need to determine the best channels. The better that you do at this stage of the process, the more efficiently you will spend your money. If you advertise on channels that very few people in Ontario will see, you will waste money unnecessarily. You may want to consider hiring a marketing consultant company to get the most bang for your back. Of course, this would only apply to Malvern storage companies that have multiple facilities to get enough return to warrant the investment in such an endeavor.

    The classics still apply. You will want to get an ad for the phonebook. It does not have to be anything too fancy, but you may want to consider taking out a full page ad. It is amazing how many extra people you will get to call your facility because you have the biggest ad. It is not clear what the exact philosophy is behind this, but it works. If something works, there is no need to second guess it. Finally, you will want to attach an attractive special to the ad. Many people shopping for Malvern storage will be attracted by a free truck or free months worth of rent.

    Another good place to place an ad would be on a billboard. There are some places that this is more productive. To this day, people will still base important buying decisions based on what is familiar. The fear of the unknown will stop people in Ontario renting faster than just about anything. Do not be the Malvern storage company that nobody knows about. You need to make sure to put the billboard in a high traffic area. Some people will see this ad everyday. You need to put something that will describe your company effectively. Make sure to spend a lot of time figuring out the best way to create your companys message in a simple statement. There are other articles that focus on how to create an effective slogan.

    Television and radio are an effective channel of advertising for your Malvern storage company. Make sure that you understand the cost and the benefit before you commit to this endeavor. It can be very costly to advertise on these two channels so you will want to make sure that it is done right. This is another instance where it may be helpful to bring in outside help to ensure that the advertising is effective. Once again, you want to make sure that you have a direct, effective communication of why your storage facility is different.

    These are traditionally the options that you will find for advertising. The newer forms would include everything that has come about because of the internet. Social networking sites have proven to be a very effective way to advertise and they are going to cost a lot less in most case. That is the way it is for now. This could change in the future as more and more companies are advertising in this way. You just need to decide what is right for your storage company. It also depends what level your company is at. You may not be quite ready for the big time, but just stay focused and keep building a good reputation by taking care of your customers.

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  • Preparation is the Key to Selling Storage Units
    By jeff on October 20, 2010 | No Comments  Comments

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    You have to seek information about Stroud storage at all times in order to stay on top of your game. One mistake that salespeople typically will make is to get to a point to where they feel like they have everything figured out. This can lead to a plateau or a potential decrease in your sales numbers. A shark is either swimming or dying. You cannot afford to sit still for any length of time. You should always continue your education on Stroud storage so that you are at the top of your game. If you do not, you may find that the new people in your company are passing you in sales. You need to fight as hard to stay at the top as you did getting to the top.

    The fact is it that is does not really matter that much what sales book you read. Of course, some will help you more than others. Just feeling like you have the upper hand in sales situations will give you confidence. This will give you a feeling of being prepared and that can really help you more than you think. Feeling prepared for Stroud storage calls and having confidence means that you will have half the battle already won. Now you just to execute the plan and close down the sale.

    You will need to be assumptive when you are closing down sales form Stroud storage callers. Nobody likes to be pressured into doing something that they do not want to do. That feeling will make callers hang up quicker than anything aside from direct insults or foul language and inappropriate comments. The fact is that they do need to have pressure applied. The best salesmen do pressure people in a way that is truly special. The Stroud storage caller will be pressured but would never be able to figure out that they are being pressured. That is truly an art.

    The best way to do this is to show that you have the best storage property in all of Ontario or anywhere for that matter. You will need to be ready with lots of compelling evidence to support that fact. You will also need to be absolutely sold on this fact in order to convey this to the caller. Simply transfer your feelings about your storage units to the caller. You will need to educate yourself on the different aspects of what makes a storage unit better than the rest. Then you will need to offer the best to your customer. There are no shortcuts in this process and you will need to invest the proper amount of time and money needed to achieve this goal.

    A good way to lead people down a path without them knowing it is to use the phrase lets do this before any suggestion. You could say something like lets do this, lets hold the space. That way, the space will be here when you come in. I am pretty much sold out. I do have the size you need so lets hold it now before it is gone. This will let the caller know that you are working with them to provide the best solution to their storage needs. Little phrases like this will really help you out when you are looking to rack up for sales than anyone in the Ontario province.

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  • Sell More Storage By Knowing Your Specials
    By jeff on October 11, 2010 | No Comments  Comments

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    Becoming a great salesman of Steeles storage is challenging for some and easy for others. Some people are just born to be salesman. People just seem to like them. They have the gift of gab. For others, these are skills that they have to learn over time. However, the people that are naturally good at sales oftentimes have a bad work ethic. They have a bad work ethic because they can. They can turn it on when they need to pay their bills and disappear once they have money in the bank. For those who have to learn the industry, they will often be the best sales people because they had to struggle for so long. They may end up being the best Steeles storage sales people.

    If it does not come easy for you, there are things that will help you in your rise to the tops of the Steeles storage industry. You will need to get educated on all of the different types of storage and the sizes. This will come naturally with experience. It helps to take some initiative and study the different aspects in your free time. Before long, you will be able to tell callers anything they need to know without referring to a type of reference of anything like that. This will help you close more sales because the caller will have confidence that you know a lot about the Steeles storage industry.

    Let the caller know that you shop the local competition so they can be confident that you are offering competitive rates. A special can also make a big difference. In all of Ontario it is becoming difficult to close sales without a special. Almost every Steeles storage property is offering some type of special to the customer. It is no longer a bonus to have a special, it is a detriment to not have one. There are many specials that you can choose to offer, but some are more effective than others.

    Prepay specials are a decent special to offer. You will benefit because you will not have to chase customers around for rent money. It is good for renters in Ontario who are looking to rent for long periods of time. You can offer a free month if they prepay for a few months or six months to a year. The problem is that this is only a benefit to a select few. Most Steeles storage renters do not know how long they are going to store for so they will be unwilling to even consider prepaying for more than a month or two. This is the same with discounts for students or seniors. They are effective, but do not include a lot of potential customers.

    The most attractive specials for potential renters would be the immediate free move in specials. The first month free is probably the best. This would eliminate a lot of anxiety for the caller. A lot of callers are looking for storage because they are facing difficult circumstances. A free month could free up their finances so they can get settled and they may end up being a great tenant for you. The problem is that this will attract many customers that may have trouble paying their actual monthly rate once the second month hits.

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  • Developing the Right Attitude for Selling Self Storag...
    By jeff on October 5, 2010 | No Comments  Comments

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    Sales is a difficult business. You have to produce or you will not last very long. With each industry, there are many nuances and challenges that you will face. With St. Thomas storage sales, you will face a unique challenge. Since the calls are numerous and short, you will say the same thing over and over, day after day. You will then need to find a way to mix things up so you are fresh. You may run into the risk of sounding like a robot repeating the same information all day long. This is a successful strategy if you are trying to get the caller to continue the St. Thomas storage search by calling the next on their list. From time to time you will have to mix it up. A different approach can be the easiest way to do this because you will naturally say different things along the way even though you will be covering the same information.

    You should really try to mix up your approach once every month. A calm approach can be effective, but will eventually lead to a stale pitch just like any other approach. The excited approach is a good one to switch to after being calm for so long. Answer the phone with a lot of positive energy. This is really one of the corner stones of the selling industry. If you watch commercials on late night TV, you never see people speaking monotone and speaking like they are giving a eulogy. They are fired up and nearly bursting through their television. You do not have to go this far. After all, there job is a little harder than yours. They are trying to sell things to people in Ontario that are in bed or on the couch eating potato chips. It is harder to transfer energy in this scenario so they do need to be a bit over the top with their excitement. You are selling St. Thomas storage units over the phone, which the customer already needs storage, so adjust your energy levels accordingly.

    If you are excited, the caller is more likely to get excited about what you have to offer. You will need to be enthusiastic about your site when going through all of the features and benefits that your St. Thomas storage location has to offer the customer. Get fired up about security. Get excited about the pin code gate and the video cameras. Explain to the caller about the differences between storage sites in terms of security. You may even mention bad things that have happened to you or family storing at other locations. This will explain why you are so passionate about security or whatever the benefit may be.

    If you are excited throughout the St. Thomas storage call, you probably have sold them on your facility. However, they may be reluctant to reserve because they may feel a little bit of pressure to do so. At this point, it may be helpful to calm down a bit in the close to make them more comfortable. You can get excited for them again after they agree to reserve. This will make them feel good about their decision and will reinforce that they got the best that Ontario has to offer and will lock down the sale.

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