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Welcome to the February ’06 PhoneSmart New Letter

1. PhoneSmart writes lead/reservation number 250,000

On January 24th, our rep Jeanette brought PhoneSmart over the quarter of a million mark by sending a Hot Lead to one of our client stores in Van Nuys, California. This is quite an accomplishment. Considering we wrote lead/ reservation number 200,000 in April of 2005, we are averaging better than 5,000 leads and reservations a month for our self storage clients. That amounts to a lot of rentals. Assuming average conversion rates, rental rates and lengths of stay, these 250,000 leads and reservations add up to more than $57,000,000 in revenue for our clients. These are rentals that would have most likely gone to a competitor, because PhoneSmart answered the call when the store staff was unavailable.

2. Tron Jordheim is asked to chair the Affiliated Association Council (AAC) of the Self Storage Association

In January all the affiliated associations of the SSA met in Virginia to talk about working together to further the self storage business on local, national and international levels. Tron Jordheim, the PhoneSmart director, was present as a member of the Missouri Self Storage Association and was named the Chair of the AAC group for ’06. This will be a great honor to work with the state and international association leaders on the issues of the day. If your state or national organization has not yet affiliated with the SSA, you should consider it. There are many benefits to being an affiliate and no real downside that we can think of. Look at www.selfstorage.org .

3. See us in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay ISS conference Feb 28-March 3, 2006

PhoneSmart will be exhibiting in the booth hall. Come by the booth and ask for your Free PhoneSmart Rocks Las Vegas T-Shirt and take home a cool new shirt! Tron Jordheim will be involved in two great sessions: “Maximizing Profits” and “Selling Self Storage”. Check the show guide for times and locations. We will also be hosting a Vendor Presentation on Friday morning where we will talk about how our sales support services help you rent more units. More info is at www.insideselfstorage.com .

4. PhoneSmart invites clients to “work the booth” in Las Vegas or Chicago

We would like to invite any of our clients to have some fun and give a few testimonials at our booth at the Inside Self Storage show in Vegas or the Self Storage Association Show in Chicago. If you will be attending, come work the booth for an hour or two and we’ll give you some neat perks. For details, email tron@phone-smart.net .

5. PhoneSmart Sales Support Services

Call Center …we turn your missed calls into profit.

Secret Shoppers…help your people sound great on the phone

Sales Training Packet…do-it-yourself guide to a great self storage selling system

Role-Play Helpline…your staff calls our reps for sales tips and practice

Lead Generation…we find you new rentals from new sources

Sales Training Seminars…bring director Tron Jordheim to your company or association for a great session

On-Site Recording…hear how your calls really sound

Ad Tracking…which ads are paying for themselves and which are not

Thanks for your time,

Tron

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Welcome to the property management blog, our diary of the property management industry.

What will become of the central Gulf Coast and its people? How do you deal with the enormity of evacuating hundreds of thousands of people, who may never be able to go home?

As long as I have been alive, I’ve heard talk of how New Orleans could get swept off the map by a combination of high wind, high storm surge, heavy rains, breached levees and broken water pumps. No one seemed to think that it would require a direct hit by a category 5 hurricane. A glancing blow would do it.

I had the pleasure of visiting New Orleans several times. I loved it. It had that combination of sophistication, dilapidation, elegance and funkiness that is expressed in the flavors of its foods and the rhythms of its musical styles. Having spent a lot of my life in New York City, I felt right at home with the strange gumbo of the rich and the poor, the talented and the desperate, the stew of cultures and the old and new architecture. I remember walking along the levees by the Mississippi River near the French Quarter thinking that it would not take a direct hit to wash it all away. I was actually a little nervous being in New Orleans. In a big storm, there would be no escape. It wouldn’t require a direct hit. A glancing blow would probably do it.

And here we are. The event has happened. It may be weeks before the rescue and evacuation is complete. Then will come a long period of assessment and grieving. The loss of life and the total loss of belongings will numb the people involved for years.

Soon the planning will begin. What can be saved? What can be rebuilt? Do we dare try to re-build in “The bowl” of New Orleans? What about the port and the industrial complexes? The economic significance of this region is enormous.

Do we re-locate all the residents of New Orleans and the Mississippi shoreline somewhere else? Do we build a new industrial and shipping infrastructure from scratch trying to use cutting edge technologies and practices to replace outdated and inefficient dinosaurs of industry?

I come from a refugee family. The scars last for generations. But the opportunities we created for ourselves opened up so many new possibilities and experiences. I am not thankful that I came from a refugee family. But I am thankful that refugees are resilient and resourceful and often capable of creating a new and very positive future for themselves. But they can’t do it without a lot of help. When refugees have lost all their boots in a flood, they have no boot straps to pull themselves up by. They need help getting some boots to pull on…and food, shelter and education in the mean time.

Properties will be rebuilt. Those of us involved in building and managing property will prosper in the re-building, even if the initial loss to some property management firms might seem unimaginable. There will be enough margin in the entire re-building process no matter how it takes shape for the investors and the companies involved.

I only hope that everyone treats this catastrophe as an opportunity to build or re-build vibrant, prosperous communities. It would do no one any good to have a couple of hundred thousand people living in tents and Quonset huts for another two generations.

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Thanks for coming to the property management blog, where we talk about our views of the world of property management.

You Can’t Sell Anyone Anything

Many people think that good sellers excel at the art of persuasion. Some think that if you tell someone enough times that they need your service, they eventually give in and say “OK”. In reality most people don’t like being told what they need unless the salesperson has pretty strong evidence from people in similar situations. Other people think that good sales people are just pushy enough to get people to buy things they don’t want or need. Inexperienced sales people are often guilty of this faulty thinking, too. They often think all you have to do is to beat the prospect over the head with enough features and benefits and keep asking for the sale, you eventually tucker out the prospect and he says yes. How many times have you had a green salesperson rattle off the features of an offering? That usually ends up annoying or irritating people rather than selling them.

I even knew a salesman whose strategy was to stay sitting on the prospect’s couch until the prospect bought something. He knew that eventually the people would want him to get out of the house and would agree to buy anything, just to get him to go home. That sounds a little crazy, doesn’t it?

The fact of the matter is that you cannot sell anyone anything. People make up their own minds about buying or not buying. You can put your offer in front of them. You can make it easy to buy. You can make it look and sound pretty. You can even tailor your offering based on market research. But when you get to the point of the decision, it is the prospect who talks himself into buying. Even though you cannot talk anyone into buying anything, you can help people talk themselves into buying. How do you do that? Ask the right questions and have confidence in your offer.

If you ask the right questions you help the prospect sort out all the things that must be considered. The right questions help the prospect come up with answers that involve your service or product. The right questions make it plain to your prospect that buying what you offer is a good idea.

Confidence in your offering shows that you have had many happy customers. Confidence in your offering tells people that you believe it is a good value for the money spent. Confidence in your offering means you are not afraid to ask for the business and are not afraid of people who are not yet ready to buy.

In every offering there are many things that need to be sorted out. This is why good sales people ask qualifying questions. This tells you where your prospect is in the whole buying process, what your prospect’s expectations and requirements are and what sort of experience he has had with your industry. The next set of questions helps the prospect visualize using your product or service and experiencing the pleasures of ownership.

Good questions will help the prospect determine how your offering will be used and how the prospect will see benefit and value. There is an old sales adage that goes something like this, “If the salesman says it, it might be hogwash. If the prospect says it, it must be truth.” So if you tell your prospect he will be happy storing his belongings in your facility, he might not believe you. But if, after some good questions, your prospect tells you that he will be happy storing his belongings with you, he believes it.

So asking good questions helps a prospect talk himself into buying with you. This is powerful stuff. I’ll give you one good question for free. It goes something like this: “If you can visualize your belongings in our floor plan A or our floor plan B, which one do you think would work better for you?” Now you can’t just blurt this out. You have to do some set-up work and ask enough questions and give enough information to get to where this question sounds perfectly natural and helpful. More great sales phrases have been slaughtered by sales people who don’t do a good job setting up the line of questioning and waiting for the right time to ask the closing question. It is a little like, “Don’t shoot ‘til you see the white of their eyes.” In any case master this phrase and ask some good questions to set it up so you can use it effectively.

Confidence in your offering comes into play as soon as someone says, “What are your specials?” This question, when translated into real language, means “Please sell me the value of your property?” If you hesitate when giving the price or give it in anyway that might be construed as apologetic, your prospect will get spooked and run. When the prospect answers your price with a grumble and a grunt, he is seeing if you think the price is too high. Most people have no idea what rent costs, so one good way to find out if you are over-priced is to tell you that you are charging too much just to see how you respond. They may have an idea of waht they think they can spend. But what will they really spend? If your response to the prospect’s sticker shock is not confident, the prospect will think that you think the price is too high, which means you don’t get the rental.

If the prospect sees your pricing doesn’t make you flinch or quiver, than it is probably not too high. I’ll give you another phrase for free. It goes like this, “Our Garden apartemtn is only $twelve hundred a month, which is a really good rate for the area.” This tells your prospect you know the prices in the area and you know that yours is not too high for the value. This is a big help in the prospect’s ability to allow himself to sell himself on your property.

It also helps to be confident when explaining the reasons why your site features are worth the money. If you don’t show confidence in your security and convenience measures, your prospects will think your community is nothing special. You need your prospects to know that your community is special. Not every competitor has what you have. You want that prospect thinking to himself, “Well, it sounds like this place has got everything I might need, and the rent isn’t too bad either.” There is not too much distance between that thought and the prospect saying to himself, “Ah, I might as well just rent here.”

Be aware of your prospects’ thought processes. Help them talk themselves into renting from you. Ask them good questions and have confidence in your community. Don’t sell your community to your prospects. Allow your prospects to sell themselves on your community…and then ask, “Which day would you like to move in. Would Monday be good, or would Tuesday be better.” Good luck and good selling.

bye for now, Tron

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Get More Phone Numbers

The more leads you put in your lead management system, the more people you will rent to. I know we all want to close a rental immediately and move someone in today or tomorrow. But the timing isn’t right for every one when they call on the phone or come in to look around. Get as many names and phone numbers as you can, so you have people to follow-up with.

You will rent to many of your follow-ups for a few reasons.

1. As people’s needs develop the timing of your follow-up call will coincide with the timing of the person’s storage needs. Some of your follow-ups will say, “I’m glad you called. I was just going to get the phone book to find your number again.” Just because someone won’t rent from you today, doesn’t mean they won’t rent from someone sometime. Wouldn’t you rather they rent from you?

2. The fact that you took the time and effort to follow-up will tell people that you are interested in doing business with them. That means a lot to buyers. Don’t you prefer to do business with people who want you to do business with them? How many follow-up calls have you received from companies you contacted recently? It is fairly unusual to get a good follow-up call when you are a prospective buyer. So you will make a good impression on that person.

3. Selling is a numbers game. If you are tracking your numbers, you can tell how many more rentals you would get if you got more phone numbers. If you rent to 80% percent of the people who give you a credit card to reserve a unit, it would stand to reason that you would want to get as many credit card reservations as possible. But not everyone has a credit card available to them and not everyone is ready to rent right away.

There are many companies that are renting to 25 or 30% of people who do not make a credit card reservation. I don’t know what other sales or retail businesses you have had experience in, but a 25 to 30% conversion rate on leads is very respectable for any industry. If you are currently getting the names and numbers of 10 people a month who do not need to rent immediately and 2 or 3 of them end up renting, then you could rent to 2 or 3 more by getting 10 more names and numbers to follow-up on. Why wouldn’t you want more names and numbers?

Sometimes it is tricky to get a name and a number from someone who doesn’t feel ready to make a commitment. Try saying these types off things.

“Let me get your name and number so I can note that I offered you this special. In case it expires before you come down and rent, I’ll know I offered it to you, what is your name…?”

“Availability changes daily. Let me get your name and number so that if the 5×5s start to run low I can call you so you won’t miss out on getting a unit from us, what is your first name…?”

“I’m not sure who is moving out later this month. Let me have your name and number so I can notify you as soon as a 10×20 opens up, what is your first name…?”

“Let me just take a few notes since I talk to so many people every day, what is your first name…?”

“I’ve got a great coupon I can send to you that you can use whenever you need us, what is your name and address…?”

Don’t let the call or visit end when someone says to you, “That’s all I needed. Thanks, Bye.” That was not all you needed. Don’t let them get away without leaving contact information.

You cannot dispute the rule of sales that says “More leads equals more sales.” So set yourself a goal of getting a name and number from every contact. Your bottom line will appreciate it.

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Welcome to the property management blog, where we watch the world of property managemtn. I copied this item from the Columbia, Missouri Daily Tribune. As states struggle with the new world of eminent domain, it will be interesting to see how each one sets its policies and how these policies will be shaped by the states that are most agreesive on either end of the spectrum. What is happening in your state?

“Panel begins property law examination
Eminent domain policy under review.”

By JOSH FLORY of the Tribune’s staff
Published Friday, August 5, 2005

JEFFERSON CITY – They didn’t fix the state’s eminent domain system, but members of a task force created by Gov. Matt Blunt did review nearly four centuries of history yesterday.

The eminent domain task force was created in response to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the right of governments to take property for private development. The decision created a furor, and Blunt has called on the task force to recommend changes to Missouri’s law.

First, though, the group called on St. Louis attorney Stanley Wallach to bring it up to speed on the current state of eminent domain law in Missouri.

Wallach, who specializes in representing property owners in condemnation actions, said the term “eminent domain” is based on a Latin phrase coined by a Dutch jurist in 1625 and has origins in the system where feudal lords would grant property rights to tenants but could always take the property back.

More to the point, Wallach gave a lengthy summary of the state of Missouri law, citing several provisions in the state constitution as crucial. Article I of the Missouri Constitution says that “private property shall not be taken for private use” except in certain cases such as drains and ditches used for agricultural and sanitary purposes.

But Wallach cited a 1954 case in which the Supreme Court ruled that remedying blight was a legitimate public use, and he noted that Article VI of the Missouri Constitution allows the use of eminent domain to redevelop blighted areas.

Wallach said courts have shown deference to determinations by local legislative bodies that property is being taken for a public use and that currently there is no meaningful judicial review of whether an area is actually blighted. Instead, he said, challenges to eminent domain tend to focus on technical issues such as whether proper notice was given.

The task force could consider whether constitutional or statutory changes are necessary in defining blighted areas or public use. Currently, state law says a blighted area can include one that is an economic liability and, for various reasons, is unable “to pay reasonable taxes.”

State Rep. Steve Hobbs, a Mexico, Mo., Republican who is on the task force, has sponsored legislation in the past stipulating that in cases where a different use of a property could provide more tax revenue, that fact “shall not be a valid factor in determining blight.”

In the recent Kelo v. City of New London, Conn., case, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to uphold a municipality’s right to seize property for private developments, including shopping malls, that generate tax revenue.

bye for now, Tron

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Welcome to the property management blog, our diary of the property management world.

I fly enough that I sometimes think of an airplane as rental space. I rent the seat while the plane takes me to wherever I need to go. You could consider the service crew as the proeprty managers. They come out in the aisles and visit. They offer a little treat. They make sure you are comfortable. But what we hopefully never experience first hand is the disaster preparations they have made.

I once had an acquaintnace who was a pilot for Northwest Air. He told me that the flight attendants we really emergency evacuation staff disguised as soda fetchers. I chuckled. I figured his take on flying had so much to do with the flying and the saftey of the airplane that he had a distorted view of things. But after the evacuation exercise at the Toronto airport, I think my acquaintance was right on the money. The estimate I heard was that the flight crew got all the passengers out of the plane inside of three minutes. This is great work. I’ve needed to get off a flight in a hurry to make a tight connection and I have never seen a plane empty fast enough for my taste. You know there were a lot of people hustling and moving to get off in three minutes.

What sort of evacuation plans does your property have? If there were to be a disater in your building or across the street from your property, how fast would you get everyone out? I am still awestruck at how few people died in the distruction of the World Trade Center Towers in comparison to how many could have died if the evacuation had been slow. I had been in the World Trade Center towers several times. When I saw them fall on television I feared 50,000 people may have died.

In the case of the Air France crash in Toronto, preparation, good proceedures, sharp staff and damn good luck all coincided. Could your staff match that kind of action?

Just becasue 2001 was a few years ago, we still need to think about how and how fast we could empty our properties if we needed to. What is your plan?

bye for now, Tron

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Welcome to the property management blog, where we keep a diary of our experience in the property management field.

I have been on the road the last few days and staying in a Westin hotel. I normally like a Westin. They know that the comfort of one’s bed means a lot and have taken great pain and expense in making sure you get a very comfortable bed. That is worth a lot.

But sometimes the details in any given property, be it a hotel, office building, condo or whatever, are disturbing. When riding in the elevator here, you can see that whoever is polishing the brass plate behind the floor number buttons has been letting the brass polish sit on the raised numbers of the buttons and has not cleaned or polished the numbers themselves. So there is a build-up of cleaner and it looks lousy. Many people probably don’t even noticfe it. Some will notice it and not pay attention to it. Others will see it and it will put a damper on their whole experience. Personally it does not bother me, but it is inconsistent with the overall quality of the hotel and the overall impression one gets of the maintenance.

So when you go up and down the elevators in your buildings, make sure you look at the details. Look for the little things that might leave a wrong impression. Don’t let something as minor as an incomplete polishing job cause one of your tenants or guests to doubt your quality. The devil is really in the details.

bye for now,
Tron

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Where is the internal upside in your property? It is in the rental inquiries you are already receiving. You are probably missing several rental inquiries each month because your staff just cannot answer each and every call. Sometimes callers get a busy signal. Sometimes your staff is too busy doing what they are supposed to do to answer an incoming call… and you get rental inquiries when the office is closed. Using an off site sales force or a call center will keep these inquiries from slipping away if the phone agents taking your calls are sales oriented.

You are also missing rentals because your staff could sell better. Even if your staff is pretty good, they could always be better. If you rent to one more person because you have improved sales skills, you have paid for any costs that you incurred to raise the standards. Many management companies spend a great deal of time and money on marketing and presenting their properties and them neglect to talk to every caller, or neglect to talk to callers well. How are you approaching the internal upside in your properties?

Bye for now, Tron

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I was looking at www.belleviewproperties.com to look at some of the renovations that are going on in the Northeast. The site has some nice features. You get a 360 degree view of the properties. This has got to give a potential tenant a great feeling. It is probably also helpful when the relocation team is meeting in their office. The person who has been to the property in person can use the web views to demonstrate why he or she thinks that a particular property is well suited for the company’s purpose. Isn’t it interesting the way presenting property has changed and stayed the same? How are you presenting your properties in the new media formats? For instance, how many of you thought there would be a property management blog site dealing with property management trends?

Bye for now, Tron

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