Remember back in third grade when the teacher told your mother, little Johnny is a nice boy but he has trouble listening. Hopefully, the rental property manager grew up a good listener. Listen, listen, listen, and let the angry tenant air it out. If a rental property manager can take a few punches the tenant will calm down. Of course do not let the tenant become abusive verbally or physically. If this happens, the tenant needs to be told that his problems are understood, however, keep it professional.

Once the tenant finishes voicing his angers, be sympathetic. The rental property manager needs to put himself in the tenants shoes and understand the tenants frustrations. Restate the tenants complaint and tell him they are valid. Then ask questions to show interest.

As much as a rental property manger might hate it, he must apologies even though it is not his fault. This is not an admission of guilt, it is just simply saying sorry you feel this way, or sorry it happened. Though the tenant might not think this way, but it will calm him down a little like a cat with a scratching post.

Now it is time to get the problem solved. A rental property manager needs to reinsure his tenant that no problem can go unsolved and you are here, the king of the castle. A rental property manger needs to imagine that this happen to him and ask what he would want done. Then ask the tenant what he expects. The more courteous a rental property manager is with the situation, the more it will boggle the tenants mind. This means he is happy because he is not use to property managers being so good with people.

All complaints should be recorded in some type of journal. The notes should be clear and precise about the episode and the problem at hand. If follow ups were done by either party, they need to be recorded. It is not just a reference for the rental property manager who took and handled the complaint, it is also for other property managers who may work at the rental property.

Always follow up with the tenant after the complaint was rectified. It shows that the rental property manager still cares even after almost taking a trip to the cleaners. Who knows, maybe the tenant will thank the rental property manager with a basket of oranges. This will also prevent the tenant from becoming extremely angry the next time a problem arises. He will know that the rental property manager is a problem solver, the go to guy. The tenant may even apologies for being so irate with the rental property manger when he obviously did not have to be.

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As an example, let me ask you this: If your customers – your renters – had to write a check for their rent today, how many of them would know who to write the check out to? When they come and stand at the desk to write a check to you, don’t they have to look around to see who to make the check out to? You’re probably laughing a little right now; it’s true, right? Because who do they store with? They store with the manager. They usually know your manager’s first name, right? They don’t often even know the name of the company. That’s what people want. They want to know who they are dealing with and that the person they are dealing with. They want to know that person will try to make things right. If they feel that way, then it doesn’t matter what the name of the company is or what promises or advertisements the company makes.

So while they’re talking to you, from the moment you say, “Hello,” they’re saying to themselves, “Is this guy going to be a jerk, or what? Am I going to like this guy? Is he honest? Is he ripping me off?”

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Part of the challenge at the store is you very rarely see your happy customers. You rarely have someone walk in the office and say, “Hey, you guys are doing a good job today. I’ll see you later.” How many times has that happened to you? It’s a neat thing to have happen. What usually happens is you get the people who come in to complain about whatever their problem is. So it’s easy to become cynical about our customers because we think they’re all whiners and they’re all spoiled and they can’t be made happy because our thinking is completely twisted because most of the people we talk to are the folks who are having a problem or a challenge.

The fact of the matter is the flipside. The vast majority of your customers are happy with the convenience and the service you offer. Most people enjoy a pleasant sale process. Just help them realize they’re going to rent with you and enjoy it.

This is what goes on in your prospect’s head. They suffer from something called the “is it’s,” and you may suffer from this when you’re shopping for things, too.
”Is it going to be right for me? Is it going to be too expensive? Is it going to last? Is it going to be a hassle if the thing breaks?” You have all of these “is it’s” going on in your head before you make a buying decision, and your customer has this happen, too.

Typically, the things they worry about are: are you going to charge them more than it’s worth? Is it going to be too expensive? Is it going to be a hassle? Is the place going to be clean? Is it going to be safe?

They want to know if they’re in their unit at night that they’re going to walk out of there in one piece, and they also want to know whether you’re going to be a pain to deal with or not.

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It’s a very simple mind game that you play with yourself. You assume that every person that you talk to is going to rent from you. This is not just a simple bit of positive thinking. It is a powerful tool: a powerful stance. If you believe every person you talk to is your next renter, then you will treat them like your next renter. Since people act the way they are treated, they will act like your next renter. When you treat them like a renter then they have to talk you out of the rental, rather than you talking them into the rental. If you take that approach with people, you will have the kind of confidence in your property, in your presentation, in yourself that will really become infectious. When have you dealt with salespeople who were sure you were going to do business with them? Have you ever had that experience? How difficult is it to say no to that kind of a person? It’s pretty hard, isn’t it? It’s hard because you know you’re talking to them because you had some kind of an interest, and because you would really like to get the issue off of your mind and off of your to-do list. You don’t walk up to the greeter at a restaurant and have them go, “Well, gosh, do you think you might want to eat with us tonight?” That’s not what they say, is it? They say, “How many? Smoking or non?” and they take you to your table. That’s the same approach you that you should take with people you’re dealing with. It’ll give you a tremendous edge. If you go away with nothing else from this read, learn to play a trick on your own mind to assume that everyone’s going to rent from you. That change of attitude alone will boost your rentals immediately.

Assuming everyone who presents themselves as a prospect is your new renter is only the first step.

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Now if they’re determined to call some other storage places for units first, try this: “Let me give you a few things to look for.” Now you’re setting the standard. Any other place that they call is going to be compared to your store because you’re giving them what they should be looking for. “Let me give you a couple of things to look for. You should have a facility that has…” and then go through your list of amenities, because if someone else doesn’t have those, they shouldn’t be storing with them. Or try, “Have you called a few other places yet?” You’ll hear what that person has to say. They may say, “Well, we like your price a lot, but we don’t like your location,” or “We like your location but we don’t like your price.” You’ll find out what their concerns are so that you can really understand them.

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So this is the question people ask themselves. I’m sure you all realize that most people who need a storage unit are not in a happy time in their life. Even if they’re getting a storage unit because they just got their dream job in their dream city and they’re going to be making three times the money than they were, and they will be living by the beach, they still have to move. Have you moved recently? Would you rather cut off a toe than move again? Okay, maybe that is a little extreme. But unless you have professional packers and movers do the entire process while you are on vacation, moving is not a joy.

After we moved the last time, I promised my wife the next time we move I’m just taking my toothbrush. I’m leaving everything else behind. We’ll have the auction people come in, clear it out, and we’ll start over. Now that we’ve been in the house a few years, I think the next time we move I’m not even taking my toothbrush. The whole process of settling in after a move also takes a lot of energy. It’s a crazy time for people.

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There is more importance in the price stall, than just being able to build value before talking about price. At some point during the first two or three qualifying questions, you’re going to find out whether this person lies in the easy third – do you remember your Rule of Thirds? – or whether that person is in the impossible third, or whether that person is in the third you’re going to have to work for. If someone calls you up and says, “How much is a 10×10?” and you say, “Well, since availability affects pricing, let me find out how soon you’re going to need it, and I’ll see what I have available” and the caller says, “Well, I talked to my Uncle Joe. He stores with you. He’s going to help me move in on Saturday.” Well, you don’t need to worry about this one. This is an easy third. Just don’t blow this one by talking too much and you’re going to be fine.

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Price stall number three: “A lot goes into the price of a storage unit. Let me tell you what your money buys you here.” Well, now we’re starting to build a value proposition right from the beginning. This person is not going to interrupt you because you’ve already offered a value challenge. The caller will want to hear why your place is worth it. So now you’ve got a chance to build some agreement before you go to price. Using this price stall means you begin by bragging on your property’s features, get some agreement on features and then move into your timeframe and location agreements.

Price stall number four: “Since availability affects pricing, tell me how soon you’re going to need a unit and I’ll see what’s available.” Well, now you’re doing all kinds of things. You’re getting permission to get a little more information, you’re building urgency right away, you’re letting the caller know that it’s just not always that easy to get a storage unit. This is a great one to use, too: Availability affects pricing.

The easiest price stall is to just ignore the price question and say, “Sure I can help you with that, how soon are you going to need your unit?” and go right into your qualifying questions. Few people will protest with this approach and it is easy to master and easy to day.

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In every business, you make your money in that third that can go either way. These are the people who are really targeted by the advertising dollars. Those people who think they might want a taco only make the taco makers money when they actually go and buy the taco. If you know how to sell, know how to ask your discovery questions and build agreement and create urgency and close the sale and help that person talk themselves into your offering, you’re going to do business with a lot of people in that middle third. That’s where you’re going to make your money.

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Look at each and every sales opportunity with the Rule of Thirds in mind. “Is this person in the easy third? If they are, what can I do to make sure I don’t chase them off and make sure I let this sale come to completion?” If that person is in the impossible third, what can you do to give that person a good experience so when their situation changes, they think of you, come to you first; and then, what can you do to make sure those people in the middle third that can go either way start telling themselves that buying from you is looking like a good idea? Don’t let them go somewhere else or decide they really don’t want your product anyway. The middle third is where you make your money, and how you make your money in the middle third is getting really good at Sales 101. Sales 101 brings results, and results, after all, is what we’re all looking for.

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Nuestro departamento de “Secret Shopping” esta ofreciendo un nuevo servicio a nuestros clientes que se llama “Feedback Shop” que consiste en llamar a una compañía de storage y realizar una llamada misteriosa, una vez terminada la llamada antes de que el gerente de la tienda cuelgue el teléfono le informas que estas llamando de PhoneSmart y que acabas de realizar una llamada misteriosa, que le vas a hacer unas cuantas preguntas y luego que le vas a informar cual parte de la llamada se realizo de una forma correcta y cual parte necesita mejorar. Nuestro trabajo es ayudar a los gerentes de las tiendas a mejorar sus llamadas, esta es una nueva forma de entrenamiento, que ofrece muchas ventajas, una de ellas es que ellos reciben inmediatamente información de que es lo que necesitan mejorar, también permite a los gerentes de las tiendas tener un entrenamiento corto sin tener que salir de su local. Aquí en PhoneSmart estamos ofreciendo este nuevo servicio hace aproximadamente tres meses y nuestros clientes están muy contentos, cada vez tenemos mas clientes que solicitan este servicio. Personalmente realizo muchas de estas llamadas cada mes y la parte que más me satisface es cuando los gerentes te agradecen por ayudarlos a realizar mejor su trabajo. El otro día hable con un gerente que trabajaba en esta tienda por tres años, y me dijo que estaba muy contento con esta llamada misteriosa por que es la primera vez que alguien le decía que parte de sus llamadas debía de mejorar, y lo más importante es que también le decían como debía de mejorar.

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Figure out how you’re going to do the alternate choice for your business. If you’re burning CDs or DVDs for a living, you could ask if you should pack them in the jewel case or the paper case. Use your alternate choice. It works great.

Let’s look at another concept called “closing on the minor issues.” This is what building agreements is all about and this is an easy way to build to the “big yes”. If I were selling you widgets and I found out from you that you take 500 widgets a week, you like them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you prefer them packed in grease rather than packed in bubble wrap… by the time we get further down through our discussion, we’ve already agreed on every minor issue involved in the sale, and the only thing left to do for me is to hand the pen to you and say, “Let me have your approval. I’ll start you up next week.” Every sale has many minor issues that can be resolved leading to the sale.

In self storage, there are many minor issues as well. Will the new renter need climate controlled? What sort of lock should your prospect choose? How will prospects get their belongings to the storage unit? Do they want to pay by check or credit card? Look for any minor issues involved in your product and service and figure out good ways to get agreement on each of them. Another classic close is called the puppy-dog close. I love it because I used to sell adult dogs and puppies. If I had a qualified prospect, and I knew they liked the breed I sold, I knew they had a good environment for the dog, and that they had a little dog sense about them and knew how to handle a dog, I would not ask for payment. I would give them a dog well suited for them, whether it’s a puppy or an older dog and say, “I’ll tell you what, take the dog home. If in two weeks it’s not working out, I’ll be glad to just take the dog back.” How many dogs do you think I took back again? Maybe one or two in a hundred. I had to take practically none of them back because I was careful about who I left the dog with and made sure the dog fit the situation.

The puppy dog close is so popular, they’re doing it with cars now. How many of you have seen the overnight test-drive? That is the classic puppy-dog close. The salesman says, “Here. Here are the keys to the car. Bring it back tomorrow. If it doesn’t work out, no problem.” How many cars do you think they’re selling this way? A ton of them! Do the car dealerships do a lot of pre-qualifying before they let you take the car home? You bet they do.

So if you can design a puppy-dog close with your products or service, do it! How many stores do a return policy that’s very simple? You can buy clothes at about any store, bring them home, wear them in front of the mirror, show them to your husband or wife, and if the clothes don’t work out you can take them back and get a full return on your purchase. It’s a wonderful puppy-dog close. Find out how the puppy dog works for your situation and create one that works for you.

Another wonderful close is called the order-blank close. The theory behind the order-blank close is: if I’m filling out the order and getting all of your information… until you stop me we have a sale.

Have you ever been on the phone where the first thing the phone rep said was, “Can I please have your name…and a phone number…and an address…”? And pretty soon they’ve got everything they need from you to write up the order, and the only thing left to do for them is to say, “Would you like to use Visa, Master, or Discover today?” The order-blank close works wonderfully in self storage. All you have to do is tell the person, “let me just get a little information from you”, and start filling out your lease forms or your reservation forms. Use the order blank close in your business. It is simply. It is low pressure. It is easy for your staff to master.

I hope you find ways to apply all of these closes to your business. In order to learn what you need to know about each prospect and in order to be able to use any of these closes, you will need to gather good information. Good information is gathered with well phrased questions.

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So what you need to do is to find what questions work well for what you are selling. How many times have you walked into a clothing store and the retail person has said, “Can I help you today?” That’s not a qualifying question; that’s an invitation for you to say, “No, I’m just looking, thanks” and shut off the whole process. How many times have you walked into a retail shop and the person has said to you, “Hi! Are you shopping for yourself, or are you looking for a gift for someone else today?”

Well, how do you get away from that one? You can’t just go, “Never mind. I’m just looking.” It’s not that easy. You’re now in a conversation. You have to say, “Well, my mother-in-law has a birthday coming up, and I have no idea what to buy for her, and I’d better buy her something because she did something really nice for me a couple of weeks ago.” Oh, my gosh! Now the sales person knows what you want and how to help you. That’s why you ask good discovery questions. There is no other way to know how to help your prospect talk himself into buying. So figure out what discovery questions work well for what you’re selling, and then learn to listen.

The best salespeople sell because they listen. If you listen, the prospects are going to tell you why they’re interested in what you have to offer, why they’re not interested in what you have to offer, and then you have someplace to go in your conversation. You have some way of knowing what the conversation is going to be.

So, ask your questions and listen. Hear what they’re saying. People will give you buying signs. A buying sign is something like, “Well, I was thinking about getting a Budweiser mug because I just love the Budweiser horse ads.” My gosh, there’s a buying sign for you. Take that person to the beer mug section of the store and sell him a Budweiser mug. Listen for buying signs.

Also listen for concerns that the person has. The person might say, “Well, I really would like a new suit, but, you know, I just don’t think I can get it this paycheck.” Well, okay, now you know that if you can find this person something on the sale rack that’s going to look like it didn’t come off the sale rack, he can get it on this paycheck and not the next paycheck. You get credit for a sale today. The customer gets to look good now for less money then he had hoped he’d spend. The store gets to clear out inventory and add revenue. Everyone wins! So listen to what the people are telling you.

During your discovery-question phase of your presentation, you also have the chance to raise some important considerations. While you’re listening to people talk, you’re able to think about their situation and raise considerations that they normally would not have thought about. For instance, if someone is shopping for a self-storage unit – they want to put Grandma’s antiques in storage — maybe they don’t know air-conditioned storage exists. Maybe they’re scared to death to put that antique in storage because they don’t want all of the joints to get out of whack. Well, you explain to them as the storage sales person that you have a climate-controlled unit where the temperature will not get above 80 degrees and the humidity stays under control. Now this person thinks, “Oh, thank goodness! There’s a solution for me.” So raise some important considerations for people. You know your business, they do not.

Your discovery questions will also allow you to qualify the prospect. Does the prospect qualify to buy this product? If you’re selling a car, okay, does this person have a driver’s license? Does he know how to drive? Does he have money to buy the car? Well, these are qualifications that you need to get past when you’re trying to sell to anyone. In your discovery-question phase, you can find out: Does this person have the means? Does this person have the authority? Is this sale going to happen if I can prove the value of the purchase and satisfy all of the concerns that might block the sale? So your discovery questions are very important to determine not only if you have a genuine prospect in front of you, but to also determine how this prospect will decide to buy.

Your discovery questions tell you where your prospect falls in your rule of thirds theory. Is this going to be a “gimme”? Is there no way a sale is going to happen any time soon? Is this a sale you are going to have to work for?

Now your discovery questions are also going to allow you to build agreement with that person, and that’s what selling is all about. No matter what you’re selling, there are certain issues you have to agree on before the whole deal can come together, and the discovery questions help you build agreement.

For instance, if I were selling puppy dogs and you came to me looking for a puppy dog, one of the questions I might ask you is, “Well, what breed do you like?” And if you don’t say the breed that I’m selling, oh, oh, we’ve got problems. These are the kinds of things that you have to build agreement on.

For instance, if you were renting a self-storage unit, when do you need that unit? If you don’t need it pretty soon, I’m not going to rent you one any time this month. If you don’t know where my self-storage location is, how to get there, if it’s not convenient for you to get to, we’re not going to rent you a storage unit. Do you know what size you need? Can I help you figure a size? Do we actually have a size that is going to meet your needs? If we can’t agree on these issues, I’m not going to rent you a storage unit. So no matter what you’re selling, there are certain topics and issues you have to agree on. Find out what those topics are, build some questions that will help you come to agreement on those topics, and go from there.

Okay, you’re buying clothes at a retail shop. You need a new dress for Saturday night. What color do you like? What color do you think you look good in? If we can’t agree on the color of your dress, I’m not selling you a dress. What sort of a hemline do you like? Do you like a poofy skirt? Do you like it so it twirls when you spin? Do you like it tight? If we can’t agree on these issues, I’m not selling you a dress. So find where you need to build agreement and come up with ways to do that.

Then, create urgency. How do you create urgency? Urgency means that the prospect you’re selling to wants to buy now. It doesn’t help you if that person buys later — although if you’re selling products and services, you will need customers later — but you need customers now. So what is it that’s going to help that person buy now rather than later, or not at all, or not from you?

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There are several important thresholds that come up early on, particularly at two weeks, two months and six months when your employees are reevaluating their decision to stay. They ask themselves, “Did I make the right choice by coming on board here? Is this something I want to do? Am I doing the things I like? Am I getting what I need here” These are times when you need to spend a few minutes with them, check in with them see what’s happening in their minds. The very fact that you are checking in will give them an opportunity to voice concerns.

Keep the new people challenged, because the worst thing you can do is let a talented and motivated person get bored. That’s bad for two reasons. They will stop enjoying the newness of the position and they will feel awkwardly underutilized.

Look at some of your current successes. Even if you have not been trying to build selling culture, you have had successes in your business. Who’s really doing well for you and why? Some of you may have no idea why some of your best people are some of your best people. Try and figure that out. It may be you just got lucky and hired somebody with a great personality who is eager to learn and likes a challenge. Or maybe you did something, intentionally or unintentionally, to help develop them. So find out what it is you did to make these people be successful, and try and do that with the next group of people.

You should start thinking today who your next good hire is going to be. I run into some good retail people from time to time, and I take a note where they work and who they are and what their name is in case I have an opening and I need to go find them again. Not every position will be appropriate for the people you run into. But when you have a position that could be a good match, your recruiting efforts could be vastly simplified.

I have been asked before: if you find a great potential employee, do you make room in the organization for them? I’d say you have to answer that question in a couple of ways for yourself. This depends a lot on your management style. If you like to manage a week or two ahead of the wave or a week or two behind the wave, that’s going to determine somewhat whether you bring the new person on board before you really need him or her, or after you have an opening.

If you have a weak player that you need to replace, I would say to bring the new person on as a temporary. Give them some temporary assignments to make sure they’re working out, and then allow the weaker person on the team to go find new employment. That way you could be sure you have a strong replacement before you let the weak employee go. That could be an effective way to handle it. But if everybody on your team is doing well and you’ve found someone who you think is outstanding, and if you make room for that person, you’ve now increased your payroll costs. Can you justify it? That has to be your question. Are you going to get enough value back in what that person’s doing to justify the increase in your expenses? You may gain more benefits than you anticipated by bringing on a good new person. He or she may find many ways to bring value to your selling culture that you could not have planned. You have to ask yourself if the potential gain is worth the additional payroll.

One of the challenges we have in self storage, as you know, is that the business can be somewhat seasonal. So there are times that we’re hiring people, and there are times we’re letting people go. Can you keep a good potential recruit waiting while you wait out the ebb and flow?

There certainly are challenges involved in hiring good people, because it is true that good help is hard to find. It’s just not just a myth; it is true. And it is true that what we offer people is not for everyone, and you just have to realize that. Sometimes you have to let nice people go because the position you are trying to fit them into is just not for them. You might feel bad about letting the person go. But it’s nicer and smarter for you to let them go if the job is not for them than to keep them on and torture them, or to keep them on and let your revenues suffer or let your customers suffer.

There is an interesting fact about wages. The money is not as important as you think: I hear a lot of people at trade shows talk to each other and say, “What do you pay your manager?” “What do you pay your manager?”, “What do you pay a manager?” I realize you have to pay people something. They have to make enough in their mind to make it worth getting up each day to go to work. They have to feel as if they are getting fair market value for the time, effort and energy they put into growing your business. But do you know what? A dollar or two an hour doesn’t make a bit of difference to someone if they’re bored, if they’re not challenged, or if they don’t like what they’re doing.

So remember that the main thing for people is to be able to feel valued and to feel as if they bring value. If people like what they’re doing and like how you deal with them and like the challenge involved in their job, a dollar or two an hour is not going to make a difference to them. So don’t be so hung up on exactly what your wages are; be more hung up on how interested and engaged your employees are and how much they enjoy their interaction with you and how well they take direction from you and how well they give feedback to you. Those are much better indicators than most anything to tell you how your selling culture is building and how it’s coming together.

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So let’s talk about selling culture. How do you find filtering systems to filter out the people that don’t belong? Perhaps you have tried to train someone who wasn’t really interested in being in a selling culture and had a bad experience. It is probably because you did not establish the pre-requisites and hire accordingly.

Let’s look for some qualifying hoops. How do you find the people that you hire? If you’re using advertisements, how do you word those advertisements? What do you call your position? Is your position a salesperson? Is your position a store manager? What do you call it? And whatever you call it now, I would urge you to call it something different in your next advertising campaign, and call it something different in the next one, and keep playing with wording and find out what sort of people are attracted by what sort of ad for the position. It’s very interesting to find out what happens. We do this when we hire at PhoneSmart. Sometimes we call the PhoneSmart rep’s job a call center position. Sometimes we call it inbound sales. Sometimes we call it marketing. We try so many different things just to see what people are attracted to, and it’s fascinating.

You should also do a voice screening for prospective employees. Do you hate to hire people because you have to talk to 75 people to get two that you want to interview? It’s frustrating, isn’t it? So, what’s the one way that people judge your staff? Let’s say if they’re calling on the phone, how much time do you think your staff has to make a great impression on the caller? Five seconds? Ten seconds? So why not set up a voice mail message, so your new prospects call in on the voice message. Your greeting will invite them to talk to you for a minute and tell you something about themselves? You give them five seconds; and if they’ve got a smile in their voice and you enjoy how they sound, call them up and do a telephone interview. If not, delete the message and move on to the next one. It’s kind of cold hearted, but your customers don’t give your people more than five or ten seconds to impress them. So, use that as a yardstick.

Certainly look for the red flags and the green flags. What are those? Well, they can be all kinds of different things. Some people certainly don’t like hiring people who’ve had lots of jobs, but I would caution you to not automatically eliminate someone because of that. Sometimes what you see is a progression of a responsibility or a person who has a goal to be at a certain level and keeps having to move through organizations to get to that level. So just because they’ve had a lot of jobs doesn’t mean they go to work the first week and then oversleep every day and get fired. That’s not what it always means. So you have to look a little deeper into that subject.

Green flags should come up with people that are fun to talk to, people you enjoy visiting with. Now, I would caution you not to hire your friends because that can be complicated. I am saying you should hire people you enjoy talking to, because your customers will enjoy talking to them, too. Hire people that make a great first impression on you.

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Scripting should never be paragraphs; scripting should be phrases or easily digestible sentences. Sales people have to be able to express the gist of your scripting in their own words. If you have your people memorize some fantastic phrases for qualifying questions and closing questions and let them fill in all of the rest with their normal conversation, it will turn out as friendly, concerned conversation. If you want your people to do word-for-word scripting in sentences and paragraphs, they won’t be able to do it. They’ll trip over it. They’ll sound canned. They’ll sound uncomfortable, and they’ll chase your prospects away. Instead, master phrases. Master certain questions, and let that be your scripting.

When developing your script, concentrate on hitting specific points, crossing certain thresholds and asking for the business. This can be done many different ways. When done so it sounds conversational, you will make a lot more sales and create a lot more referrals.

Another great rule of selling is to stay away from the word “if”. Say “when” instead. Don’t tell your prospect, “Well, if you rent from us, you’ll find that it’s a great experience.” Don’t do that. Say, “Well, when you’re one of our tenants, you’ll like staying here because…” Do the assumptive selling.

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Greg Tyler told me this story and you should tell it to your staff people. This is part of the oral tradition of the selling culture. You have to pass on the good stories. Anyway, here’s how the story goes. If you know a little bit about ice fishing, you know it is its own culture, and you can buy as much gear for ice fishing as you can for anything else. There was this one guy who bought all of the gear. He had the fancy ice house that he could pull out on a trailer with his TV and VCR in there, with a heater and satellite connection and everything you’d want. He had his automatic fish finder, his power auger to get through the ice, and the most expensive ice fishing pole one could buy. He was sitting there one day with his hook down in the water. Nothing happened. Not a single nibble. He looked out the double-pane-insulated glass of his fishing hut and saw a little kid walk up to a spot in the ice not too far from him, with a bucket in his hand and a hatchet. The kid turns the bucket over upside down, sits down on the bucket, takes the hatchet and chops a little hole in the ice, and throws a string with a hook down in there. The guy in the fancy ice hut is watching for a little while because he thinks this is pretty funny. He started ice fishing the same way when he was a kid. He laughed, thinking of how frustrated the kid would be sitting out in the freezing cold on his bucket all day trying to catch one fish. Our friend in the fancy ice house was eager to start piling up all the fish his expensive gear would help him catch and was about to go back to his ice hole, when the kid pulls a fish out, and the guy chuckles. He thinks, “Isn’t that cute? Beginner’s luck.” The guy feels a little annoyed because he has already been out there for a while and he has nothing to show for it.

He is about to sit back down at his ice hole when he flips to the golf channel on his satellite TV. Just then, out of the corner of his eye he sees the kid pull another fish out of the lake. And then another one out. Now he’s starting to get a little annoyed because his $6,000 fish finder wasn’t helping him at all. So he gets out of his 72-degree ice house and walks over to the kid and says, “Hey kid, what’s your secret?” and the kid says “ Mum ah mum mum” or something like that. The guy has no idea what he said, thinks to himself, “Oh, great! The kid is Special Ed, too!” He turns around and goes back in his ice house. He throws his hook in again; nothing happening. Not a nibble. He sits there for a few minutes that seem like an hour. He looks out the window again; the kid’s got three more fish up on the ice. Now he’s really starting to get mad. So he gets out, walks over to the kid and says, “Kid, I’ve got to know your secret.” The kid says, “MUM AH MUM MUM”, and the guy says, “Look, Kid, I can’t understand your gibberish. You’ve got to tell me, what’s your secret?” So the kid holds his hand up in front of his mouth, spits some worms out into his hand and says quite matter of fact “Keep your bait warm!” You can imagine our friend with all the fancy gear stood humbled for at least a moment or two.

What do you do to keep the bait warm in your business? Do you have a warm, friendly smile when people come in? Are you sure to make an extra walk around the property to see that there’s no litter floating around your place? Is the unit that you’re showing your customer actually swept out? Are you keeping your bait warm, or are you relying on your gadgets and expensive advertising and concessions to bring you business?

Here’s another good story about selling. Have you ever worked in retail? I did for a while. I worked in a toy store during the Christmas holidays one year wile I was in High School, so I can relate to some of the challenges of helping retail customers.

Well, there was this young guy right out of high school that went to work for a fantastic department store. Now it’s not your normal department store; it was like Penney’s and Dillard’s and Cabella’s and Wal-Mart and an auto mall all wrapped into one. Everything you could possibly imagine was there. The owner took an interest in all of the new people. So the owner came down from the office and introduced himself to the kid and said, “Well, I hope you have a good first day” and went back up to the office. At the end of the day came, the owner went downstairs to see how the kid did. He said, “Well, Kid, how did you do today? How many customers did you help today?” and the kid said, “Well, I…I helped one customer today.” The owner starts getting red in the face, “You were here all day, and you helped ONE customer? What did you sell him?” “Well, I sold him a fishing hook.” (I like fishing stories; you can tell!)

So the owner said, “You sold him a fishing hook?” and the kid said, “Yes and then after that we found out he didn’t have a rod and reel, so we went over and picked him out the latest new reel with the luxury rod and got him a whole big tackle box full of all of the stuff he’d need.” And the owner goes, “Okay, that’s good. Is that all you sold him?” and the kid goes, “No, no. We found out he didn’t have any outdoor clothes, so we went over to the outdoor clothes department and got him waders and a big coat and some camo gear while we were at it and some new boots. He looked real sharp. And then we found out he didn’t have a fishing boat, so we went over to the boat department and picked him out a beautiful boat that was going to be just right for what he wanted to do. But he didn’t have a trailer, so we had to add a trailer to that. And then we found out that he drove over here this morning in his little Volkswagen Jetta and couldn’t haul anything with it. So we went over to the truck department and got him a new GMC 3500 dual wheel on-demand four wheel drive super torque, and he drove off.”

By this time the owner’s jaw is to the ground and he’s thinking he needs to find out more. He says, “This is incredible! You sold all of this to a guy who came in looking for a fishing hook?” And the kid said, “Well, actually, I was working in the pharmacy early this morning and he came in looking for Band-Aids and I happened to say to him, “It would be a nice weekend to go fishing, don’t you think?”
If this isn’t a good example of suggestive selling, I don’t know what is.

How many times do you have people come in to rent a truck and you forget to ask them about a storage unit? Or how many times do people come in to buy boxes and you forget that they’re going to need to put their boxes somewhere? You do it from time to time; you get busy and forget to take an extra second with a customer. How many times have you talked to someone on the phone and given them your store hours and then realized that you’ve hung up without asking them if they needed a storage unit? Don’t let it happen again. You are giving away money every time you do that.

Take these silly stories and find some more that you like and share them with your people. Because all of these stories help people get the mindset of being in selling mode all of the time and being “on” with their sales techniques. This allows you, then, to track things like personal bests. Do you even have legends in your company about the day that someone rented ten units to the same company, or when so-and-so rented 27 units in a day? There are fantastic feats of selling that happen in your company. Find them. Celebrate

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A suspect is someone you hope might, maybe, could, should do business with you. And in the storage business, we actually don’t talk to very many suspects unless you go out and knock doors in the neighborhood around your storage facility.

The people who call you on the phone and the people who walk into your place are prospects because they’ve identified that they either have a need or think a need is coming up. Prospects have expressed some need or desire for what you have to offer.

Closing rations or conversion ratios tell you how many prospects it takes you to get a customer. These ratios can change dramatically based on where your prospects come from. In self storage you typically get prospects from people who see your location from traveling by it, people who find your ad in the yellow pages, internet users who see your web site, internet users who submit their information to storage locator services, referrals from current customers, repeat customers, mailers, fliers and other marketing efforts. You should know the ratios on all of these so you can better manage your efforts and better judge when you are doing something right or when you are missing the mark.

Learn the vocabulary of selling and then talk about the process of selling. Talk about “qualifying questions” – things like “Do you know how soon you’re going to need a storage unit?” “Do you have an idea of what size you need, or can I help you figure that?” “Do you know where we’re located, and is that a good location for you?” Design and frame your qualifiers intentionally.

Are you familiar with “closing questions”? Is that a term you use in your property? If you use the term, do you actually ask closing questions to your prospects?
“When would you like to move in?”
“Is Saturday a good time for you to come in, or is Sunday better?”

“Would you like the 10’ x 10’ or would you prefer the 10’ by 15’?” If your people understand what closing questions are, they’ll use them, and your culture will develop.

I have heard some people call a closing question “the ask”. This is not a bad concept. When you get to the right point in your conversation with your prospect and you have asked good qualifying questions, it is time for The Ask. You ask the person to make the purchase.

I have heard others say that using the term “close” sounds a little crude and adversarial, as if your prospect might get hurt when you “close” them. This is not a bad point either. Maybe we are really asking people to “open” an account with us or to “open” a business relationship with us. I like this way of thinking. It shines a positive light on the way in which you ask someone to be your customer.

Do you see what is happening here? By talking about sales issues in the language of selling, we are participating in the culture of sales. Help your people be in the culture of sales by talking about selling.

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Yes…. We are ready for that….. StorageMart at Storage-mart.net has made a huge announcement.

Be the first to read it: StorageMart announces the BUILD IT GREEN Design Challenge….

Self Storage Owner Press Release Section

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Welcome to PhoneSmart’sproperty management blog, the ins and outs of property and commercial management.

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Welcome to the PhoneSmart Property Management Blog. A diary of the property management industry.

P.S. Most importantly, don’t forget your Marriage Anniversary!!!

Secret Shopping Blog Your inside peek
Self Storage Blog A diary of the self storage industry
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As you know, South Florida had a bit of inclement weather a few weeks back. Hurricane Wilma blew through in a hurry causing a lot more inconvenience than destruction. My brother’s mother-in-law lives in the area Wilma visited. She said in her immediate neighborhood there were quite a few trees that went down, but not much building damage. She was quite annoyed that her favorite trees near her condo were uprooted. But the tree she really hates, that blocks the view out of her living room, survived with hardly a leaf lost. That is the fickle nature of storms, isn’t it?

One inconvenience Wilma cause was to disrupt the Self Storage trade show schedule. The Inside Self Storage Expo had to be postponed. However in true Florida style, it wouldn’t take but four weeks to get ready to go back to normal. So if you had planned to go to the Fall ISS show, come on. If you hadn’t originally planned to go, check your schedule and make it happen. The Expo and Conference will be Tuesday November 29 through Friday the 2nd of December.

There will be some excellent seminars, including a session I will lead, called “Winning Sales Strategies”. The seminar will be at 8:00 am for you early risers on Wednesday the 30th of November.

You can also visit with lots of vendors who help you make your business work, including me! I will be giving a special Vendor Presentation on PhoneSmart services on Friday the 1st of December at 10:00am. Even if you are one of our many happy clients, you should attend this session and find out about some of our other valuable services…all designed to help you make more profit.

The roundtable discussions are always a favorite of the ISS Expos. Stop by my table to talk about using Call Centers effectively and make sure to sit in for some of the other great topics.

One session topic you shouldn’t miss will be “Disaster Recovery”, lead by the Nunez brothers of Southern Florida. They have had some practice in this subject over the years and can give you some great tips.

Miami is very nice this time of year, even after hurricane clean-up.. The host hotel, the Hyatt Regency, has a great rate of only $139.00 a night. That is not bad at all.

I don’t know how air fares are where you fly from, but my flight from St. Louis will only be under $250.00. That’s not much more than a few tanks of gas these days.

I’m not sure you can afford to miss this show. The cost will be pretty low and the learning and networking will be very valuable.

Go to www.insideselfstorage.com/expo/miami and register.

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If you haven’t seen the news about Morgan Stanley buying AMLI Residential, you are missing a big story. When Wall Street money goes out chasing a deal, it usually ends up being a serious deal. How will this affect your business? Will this mean your investors will be more likely to make funds available for projects and acquisitions? Will it mean you will start shopping for new capital? Will it bring up the value of your portfolio? All interesting questions to ponder.

In the mean time properties continue to struggle to differentiate themselves from one another. I have seen some very nice web sites that give wonderful virtual tours. I’ve seen some very attractive ads in rental guides. I see some great move-in incentives and some wonderful amenities. Are these what are really driving new tenants to your properties? Are these what really extend your average stay?

I’d say the answer is yes and no. If you people with the sales and service skills making on staff, working with prospects and tenants every step of the way, then the answer is yes. If you do not have the right people with the right skills, then the answer is no.

Tron

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A few points on writing apartment leases.

People call an apartment office, because they already have an interest. They do not call through the phone book or search for the cheapest price. There is a reason they are calling you. Either:
1. They like your location
2. They already know you are in their price range
3. They know someone who lived or lives with you
4. They drove by and like the looks of the place

Your job is to find out what they already like about your community so you can set an appointment to have them come in for a tour. Unless you are pre-qualifying credit before a tour, your purpose is to set up a tour.

People will ask a “How much” question in many cases because they do not know how else to start the conversation. Ignore the question. Assume a “How Much” question really means, “Tell me about your place because I think I want to rent with you.”

Ask several questions to find out why they already like your place and to build up some interest so you can end the conversation by asking, when would you like to come in and tour our community; is morning or afternoon better for you?”

Here are the questions…
1. “How soon are you going to need something”
2. “Do you know how many bedrooms you are looking for?”
3. “Do you know where we are located and is it a convenient location for you?”
4. “How did you find out about us?”
5. “Have you already been by our community?” (This question allows you to brag on the features of your property and paint a picture of how nice an experience it is to live there.

Paint a picture of the great living experience at your property. Talk about why your current tenants like living there.

Then ask for the appointment. Use a choice question.

First say “When would you like to tour our community?

Then without pausing add …

“Is morning or afternoon better for you?”
“Is during the week good or is the weekend better?”

The more appointments you set, the more people you rent to. So set more appointments.

bye for now, Tron

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What is your company doing about the influx of Spanish speakers? How are you changing your ways of dong business to adjust to and integrate with the vast number of Hispanic and Latin American people who are calling your communities home.

At PhoneSmart we are working towards a bilingual workforce, where Spanish speakers can use their mother-tongue to their professional advantage.

Here is one thing we are working on :

ATTENTION BILINGUAL STUDENTS!

PHONESMART ANNOUNCES ITS SPANISH-ENGLISH BILINGUAL
STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP CONTEST FOR 2005

PhoneSmart is dedicated to the development of an effective Spanish-English bilingual work force in mid-Missouri. To promote this goal PhoneSmart will provide two $500.00 educational scholarships at mid-Missouri’s higher education institutions

The scholarships are good for tuition and course fees at these fine mid-Missouri schools:
• The University of Missouri-Columbia
• Stephens College
• Columbia College
• Moberly Area Community College
• Westminster College
• William Woods University
• Central Missouri Methodist College
• Lincoln University

One scholarship is for High School age students who are residents of Boone County ages 15 -18 at time of submission. High school applicants will write a 3,000 word essay entitled “How Being a Spanish-English Bilingual Speaker Creates Advantages in Education and Career.”

The second scholarship will be awarded to a student already taking courses at one of the local institutions mentioned above. The applicants must be at least a part-time student taking classes in the spring or fall of 2005. Applicants must be 18 years or older at the time of submission. The higher education applicants will write a 3,500 word essay entitled, “The Challenges and Rewards of Creating a Spanish-English Bilingual Society”.

Both sets of applicants are required to submit two versions of the essay; one in Spanish and one in English. Essays will be judged and the winner chosen by a panel consisting of bilingual education and business leaders from the mid-Missouri community. The author of the winning essay in each category will be awarded the scholarship.

Deadline for submission will be October 31, 2005. The panel will select the winners by December 8, 2005. The awards will be presented at a reception in honor of the winners shortly thereafter.

PhoneSmart – Mid-Missouri’s Spanish-English Bilingual Sales Force

Tell me what you are doing.

bye for now, Tron

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So you might want to think about how you and/or your managers carry out the duty of property mayor. It is not only a fun way to look at it, but a very practical way to look at it as well.

Bye for now, Tron

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