Imagineone of your managers or fellow employees pouring buckets of your facilitys money into a sewer drain. Its not a pretty sight, is it? Yet every day, well-meaning but poorly trained self-storage salespeople (or consultants, as we like to call them) do just that because they do not use an effective sales presentation to turn more prospects into tenants.

Most of us spend a great deal of money on Yellow Pages advertising and other marketing with the intention of getting the phone to ring and luring prospects through the door. But how much do we spend to make sure employees consult and not just take orders when those phones ring or customers visit? Are your employees selling your sites services and products or merely quoting prices?

Unless your facility is the only one in town and you have to turn customers away, you owe it to yourself and the value of your property to invest in an effective sales program. Why?

1. Its cost-effective. A self-storage business is grown one rental at a time. What is one rental worth to your site$400, $600, $800, more? If your average rent is $100 per month and the average tenant stay is six months, each rental is worth $600. Does your current sales training ensure the best attempt is made to make every prospect count? Can you afford to lose rentals because you dont have an effective program? What if sales training netted your site just one extra rental per week for a year? Using our example, it would equate to an additional $31,200 in annual revenue and $300,000 in value.
2. The competitive marketplace demands it. Chances are your site has competition. Prospective tenants call four to six sites before making a decision on where to rent. Do your consultants give prospects the reasons they need to visit your site? Does your company use a memorable call script to set your store apart from competition? Most prospects will call before they visit you. After all, their time is too valuable to drive around checking out self-storage. But 90 percent of them will eventually rent somewhere. Why not rent from you?

Building an Effective Presentation

Be prepared. Many storage operators think their sales program starts with their initial greetingwrong! You cant afford to have prospects be guinea pigs. You have to know what you are doing before the phone rings or a customer walks in your door. Preparation means developing effective sales skills, knowing the benefits and features of your site, and knowing what the competition is up to. You and your employees should be experts in the market. Dont let customers tell you what the competitors are doingbeat them to the punch.

Establish a greeting. Its cliché but its true: You dont get a second chance to make a first impression. How you greet a prospective customer sets the tone for the new relationship. There are eight simple steps to a perfect greeting:

1. Smile! Whether in person or over the phone, prospects know whether you are smiling.
2. Thank the customer for choosing to call or visit your site. Remember he has far too many choices for you to take him for granted.
3. Stand up when a customer comes into your office. To remain seated is disrespectful and immediately lets him know you dont care.
4. Be warm and friendly. Attempt to catch a smile by saying something like, So you must really need storage to come out on such a beautiful (or rainy) day. All of us respond more favorably to those who are welcoming.
5. Solve the customers problem. Saying I can help you with that is a great way to start a mutually beneficial relationship.
6. Empathize with the customers concerns. Show genuine interest and listen to what he says. Keep in mind that self-storage prospects come to you for solutions.
7. Attempt to establish rapport. This is a relationship business, and making a connection is where it all starts.
8. Start the conversation with an open-ended question. Ask something like, When will you need storage? Listen to what the customer has to say and become the expert.

Discover their needs. You cant know what a prospect needs without asking pertinent, professional questions. For example, never just ask what size unit he needs. You are the experthelp him determine the correct size by asking questions. Personalize the experience by being customer-specific. When possible, use open-ended questions. Listen to how the customer responds, and build agreement on the features he wants using soft closes: So you feel the climate-controlled space would be best for your needs?

Add value. Most prospective tenants believe all self-storage is the same. This is your chance to convince them otherwise. You add value to your product by citing six to 10 of the most important features of your facility and including a benefit for each. Features refer to the sites attributes and amenities. They are particularly valuable if they are things the competition does not offer.

The why behind the feature is the benefit. When you explain why a prospect should care about or want particular features, it answers his question, Whats in it for me? You must add a benefit to the features you mention, or you end up using technical jargon your new customer will not understand. He may not feel comfortable asking you to clarify.

Overcome objections. The most important thing to know about objections is you must be prepared and expect them. They are a natural part of the sales process. An objection can indicate you have not given your prospect enough information or clearly understood his needs. When faced with a prospects doubt:

• Restate his objection: You feel the upstairs unit would be inconvenient for you to use?
• Empathize: I know how you feel; using the elevator can sometimes be a hassle.
• Restate his needs: Youve told me you plan to store for six months or so and that you wont be accessing the unit once your goods have been moved in. Is this correct?
• Solve his problem: I know we have a unit that would meet your needs. Its just across from the elevator, and its $10 less per month than the downstairs unit. Our large freight elevator and the free use of a box dolly should make moving into the unit very convenient.
• Re-close: Since we only have a few of these units at this great price, why dont we go ahead and reserve unit 450 just for you?

Close the sale. If you have done everything else correctly, closing the sale will be easy. Remember, the prospect has come to you to solve his problem. But if you dont ask for the rental, everything else you have done was a waste of time. Following are some closing options. The closing technique you use is not critical; what is important is to close the sale.

• The Alternate-Choice CloseGive your prospect the choice between two positive options: Do you believe the 10-by-10 or the 10-by-15 will best suit your needs?
• The Last-Chance CloseBuild a sense of urgency: I have one unit left in that price range. Should I go ahead and reserve that unit for you today?
• The Suggestion CloseMake a friendly suggestion: Let me suggest that we rent the space today so you will be free to concentrate on moving in on Saturday.

There is no better investment you can make in your self-storage facility than an effective sales-training program. A great presentation relieves the pressure on rates and gives you the advantage you need to increase occupancy, revenues and site value.

Bob Copper is the founder of Self-Storage 101, a provider of do-it-yourself management tools. The company empowers managers and owners to take control of their assets and compete with institutional players at a fraction of the cost. For more information, call 866.269.1311; e-mail management@selfstorage101.com; visit www.selfstorage101.com.

RK Kliebenstein is the president of Coast-To-Coast Storage. He can be reached at 561.638.1851 or via e-mail at rk@askrk.com.

Construction Corner is a Q&A column committed to answering reader-submitted questions regarding construction and development. Inquiries may be sent to construction@ministorage.com .

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Q: I am building my third self-storage site. The first two were built with a bare minimum of security. My new one is in a more competitive market and I want to do it right. What do you recommend to provide tenants with a highly-secure site and have a more marketable facility?

Bill in Newburg, Ore.

A: Security systems are more than just a way of securing a site. As you implied, they also provide an awesome marketing edge and an advantage over the competition. Here are a few things to consider:

• Individual Door AlarmsThese bring in higher rents and give tenants a stronger sense of security. They also let you keep track of tenant activity on site.
• Access ControlWhether you are just installing a basic keypad at the gate or securing all doors and elevators, access control is essential to any site. For more bells and whistles, consider adding pay-at-the-gate functionality, intercoms, welcome displays, card readers and cameras to your keypads.
• Digital Video SurveillanceThe days of videotapes are over! Look for a system that offers digital recording, DVD archiving and remote capability.
• Music and PagingEven the best designed facilities can be creepy and cavernous. Adding a music system to your facility adds a level of comfort for tenants. Paging capabilities allow you to easily stay in touch with customers throughout your site.

It is usually best to find a company that provides all of these solutions than to buy them from different sources. Do your research, and you will have a very marketable and secure site.

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Q: Do you recommend using conduit for low voltage wiring or just free-wire? My contractor is pushing me toward conduit, but it adds quite a bit to the cost. What are the benefits?

Sherman in Conyers, Ga.

A: I recommend putting all wiring in conduit. The main reason is protection. Wire that is freely run throughout the facility has the potential to sag, or be pulled down or cut. There has actually been an instance in which wire was run inside a unit and the tenant used it to hang his clothes! Needless to say, things like that can cause problems with your security system.

Another consideration is local building codes. Some counties require everything to be in conduit, regardless of the voltage. Though I agree with your contractor, talk with your city planner and review your budget to see if conduit is necessary and cost-effective.

Tony Gardner is a licensed contractor and installation manager for QuikStor, a provider of self-storage security and software since 1987. For more information, visit www.quikstor.com.

So how do you attract sales-savvy people? You have to build the culture first. Every workplace has its own feel and unspoken understandingsthis is your culture. It revolves around language; stories, myths and legends; rituals; and unwritten rules. When your culture encourages sales and the development of selling skills, you have created a workplace where sales-savvy people are comfortable and can excel.

Language

Start speaking the language of sales. Teach employees how to use qualifying questions, alternate-choice closes, concerns and assurances, assumptive statements, closing percentages and missed opportunities. Learn the keywords and code words that help your staff keep sales at the front of their minds.

Stories, Myths and Legends

Share stories and myths about selling with your staff. For example, there is a great story about a young kid straight out of high school who went to work for a department store that sold everything you could imagine. At the end of his first day, the store owner asked him how many customers he had helped. He was shocked and dismayed to hear the hire had only helped one customer and asked him to explain.

The kid explained he had offered a customer a fishing hook, only to find the man had no rod, reel and or tackle. After he helped the customer pick out that gear, he discovered the man had no fishing boots or outdoor clothes, so he helped him choose the right boots, pants, jacket and hat. Then he realized the customer had no boat, so he helped him select a boat and appropriate trailer. When the man mentioned he would have trouble hauling the boat with his Volkswagen, the young sales clerk took him to the truck department and helped him choose a pickup truck with a towing package and CD/DVD player.

Finally, at 4:45 p.m., the customer who had been with the young salesman since 10:30 that morning had everything he could possibly need for a weekend of fishing. The owner of the store was amazed. He asked, You sold all this merchandise to a man who came in to buy a fishing hook? The kid replied, Well, actually, I started the day in the pharmacy, and the customer asked me where to find the band-aids. While I was helping him, I happened to say, Looks like a good weekend to go fishing.

There are all kinds of fun stories about salespeople. There are some great cartoons, too. Have you ever seen the Far Side cartoon featuring the King of Salesmen? He is waving good-bye from a boat as he pulls away from a shore-side Eskimo village. The Eskimos are standing proudly by their new refrigerators and waving back. You can tell their fondness for the salesman in the sad expressions on their faces.

Then there are sales myths, like the Rule of Thirds, which breaks customers into three distinct categories:

• One third of customers will rent from you, as long as you dont chase them off, because they already like your location or know someone who has rented from you. Your job is simply to not talk them out of the sale.
• Another third of customers will not rent from you, either because you cant meet their current needs or their needs are too far in the future. If you are nice to these folks, they might remember you when it is time to rent.
• The final third could go either way. These are the people with whom you need to use your best sales and listening skills.

Finally, talk with employees about legends of great sales feats accomplished by members of your business. For example, tell them about the time one of your managers had a record rental day. Talk about the funny ways staff has asked for the rental and gotten it. At my company, we still talk about the day one of our sales reps, Dana, reserved seven 10-by-20s for one caller, and we still try to beat Paulas eight-hour record of 23 credit-card reservations.

Rituals

You can also establish business rituals for your staff. These might include the manner in which you make notes on your call logs, the way you stand up to greet customers who walk through your door, the way you turn the lease toward new tenants so they can see where to initial and sign. Look at the things you do during your selling routine. Use consistency to allow some of these actions to become rituals.

Unwritten Rules

Then there are unwritten rules. For example, consider the rule that you should never end a rental inquiry without asking which day the person would like to move in; or the rule that says theres no eating at the front counter; or the rule that says you should look everyone in the eye when you greet them. You probably have many such guidelines that work in selling your facility to new tenants and re-selling it to current ones. They may not be typed in the policies and procedures manual, but you encourage employees to follow them nonetheless. Let employees know what those rules are so they can use them.

Attracting the Sales-Savvy

Now that you have created a selling culture, you need to attract people who are sales-savvy. How do you get the right people to inquire about your positions? What do you call those positions? Do you look for managers, sales assistants, marketing reps or retail-sales reps? Think about this before advertising or promoting an opening. You will generally get what you ask for in an ad.

Start screening candidates with some qualifying hoops. The first a potential new hire jumps through is the recorded audition. When a candidate calls your employment hotline, he is invited to talk about himself and his experience on a voicemail message. Listen to all the messages and only contact the people who sound good on the phone, use visuals in their stories and sell themselves well. The impression employees make on the phone is essential to getting rentals. Why not hire only people with a great phone presentation?

If a potential hire passes the recorded audition, the next step is the phone interview and mystery shop. If you like the way the person deals with you and sells himself during the phone interview, move on to the shopping phase. Wait a day or so, call his place of work, and interact with him as if you are a prospective or current customer of that business. How he treats you in this situation will tell you a lot. Did your potential hire ask for your business, try to fix your problem, and attempt to cross-or up-sell?

Testing, 1,2,3

Next is the personal interview. For this, you will need to create a test that will weed out the wrong people for the job. It can be frustrating when a person interviews well, then turns out to be a bad fit for the position. I once hired someone with a good resume and appropriate work history who interviewed very well. When the other team members learned about the hire, they asked if I was nuts. Apparently, he had been rude and even hostile to three or four people while waiting in the break room for his interview. Enter the birth of The Break-Room Test.

Now when I conduct personal interviews, I intentionally leave the candidate waiting in the break room for five or 10 minutes before I meet him. I have several team members interact with him during that time and gauge his reactions. If the prospect does not offer natural, friendly responses or is impatient or rude, the interview is extremely short and I move on to the next candidate. This test has almost entirely eliminated unsuitable hires and decreased our turnover in trainees. Create your own version of this test. You will be very pleased with the results.

Another great test is the Sell Me Something Test. During the interview, ask the potential hire to sell you a pen, note pad or picture on the wall. If he freezes up and cant even try, this is a red flag. Anyone who is a little sales-savvy should have fun with this and come up with some entertaining features, benefits and closing questions.

Finally, there is the Chuckle Test. You should only hire people with a little bit of a sense of humor. Sales people without one are no fun to deal with as a customeror as a supervisor! If you cant share a laugh with your interviewee, that is another red flag. Look for these warning signs. If you see them, end the interview cordially. Tell the person the position probably wont be a good match and move on to the next.

Taking a Chance

Once you have found someone who does well on the recorded audition, telephone interview, break-room test, sell-me-something test and chuckle test, you have someone worth trying out. You may have noticed I did not address how to read a resume or factor in work history. There is a saying that says, Beauty is as beauty does. So if someone comes to you with a beautiful resume and very appropriate work history, he still may not pass any of the tests that really count.

But resumes are interesting. They will tell you if someone has jumped from job to job. If each job was a step up in responsibility and compensation, it is usually a good sign. Work history can tell you about how other employers saw fit to use the person and what fields of interest the person had.

The proof is really in the pudding. Hire someone for a temporary assignment or on a probationary basis. Not everyone is well-suited for every job. You need an evaluation period, which will tell you if you should spend more time and money training and preparing a new hire to be a part of your team.

When I ran a bottled-water dealership, we had many people apply for a route job delivering 5-gallon bottles of water. But until someone has delivered 150 bottles in a day, you dont know if he is well-suited for the position. So we would hire a potential recruit for one week as an assistant route driver. Each day, he got more responsibility and, by the end of the week, you either had a good candidate, or the recruit quit or was released. The retention rate of people who made it through the first week was very high. Why not let your recruits work a week as a sales assistant, giving people tours and showing them units?

The Right Hire, The Right Job

If a candidate jumps through all of your qualifying hoops, does not raise any red flags during the process, and successfully completes the first temporary assignment, you have someone worth hiring. Now it is up to you to keep him interested and engaged. Give him enough responsibility to keep him challenged but not so much to overwhelm him. Everyone is a little different, with his own strong and weak points. Know with whom you are dealing. Great shortstops usually dont make good outfielders. Great pitchers generally dont make good first basemen. So mind how you direct your new talent.

For example, I had a sales rep who did great on all the qualifying hoops and did well during training, but something was amiss. I hired her to work evenings, but it wasnt working out. She didnt appear happy, and her numbers were not what they should have been. One day, she volunteered to cover a Saturday-morning shift. She had a great day. Her spirits were good and she had great results. Was it a fluke? I scheduled her for a few more Saturdays, and the result was the same. She finally told me she was really a morning person and felt and performed better early in the day. I had put her in the wrong slot. In the evenings, she was tired, physically and emotionally. I moved her to mornings and she did very well.

Getting a sales-savvy staff is not just a matter of careful hiring. Its also a matter of watching how people progress and grow in your culture. There are several thresholds a new recruit will cross, usually at the end of week two, month two, month six and month 12. The person hits a wall and either goes through it or decides to seek other employment. Be aware when someone is going through a phase and see what you can do to help. If he has been successful and enjoys working with you, it only makes sense to help him gain confidence in his place on your team.

Sometimes, a good hire will only last so long. People may need to move on. Thats OK, too. But considering the cost and effort of finding, qualifying and training a sales-savvy employee, you like to keep all your good team members for as long as you can. Once they have been around for a while, they gain so much knowledge that they become a mentor and go-to person for less experienced team members, and their very presence helps move your project along.

Having a sales-savvy staff takes time and considerable effort. You may have to terminate employees who seem disinterested in developing the necessary skills. You may have to reassign those who are great at some things but are notand will not becomesales-savvy. But if you are determined to create a sales culture and attract and hire the right candidates, your business will see results in increased rental activity, average lengths of stay, rental rates and customer satisfaction. This all amounts to higher profits and a more advantageous cap rate. Good luck in your efforts.

Tron Jordheim is the director of PhoneSmart, which serves the self-storage industry as an off-site sales force that turns missed calls into rentals. This rollover-call service serves as a backup to store managers. Mr. Jordheim has started several successful businesses from scratch and assisted with acquisitions as general manager of the Mid-Missouri Culligan Bottled Water franchise. For more information call 866.639.1715;
e-mail tron@phone-smart.net. 

Selling records storage is easy once you understand the two prime objections youll get from customers and how to overcome them. This is an important ingredient in the records storage lite model designed for self-storage implementation. My last three columns have focused on the value of this model to the average operator. (These articles are available in the online article archive at www.insideselfstorage.com.) This month, well look at how to sell packaged services, overcome customer concerns and close the sale.

Objections can come in many forms and at different times during the sales cycle. However, there are two very important doubts that rear their heads more often than not. They are directly related to the age-old human frailties, money and work.

Prime Objection #1

The service is great, but it costs too much. Cost always comes into the picture with a small-business decision that does not concern core business processes. Records storage is a bother and, frankly, not on the top of most business owners priority list. You are confronted with the problem of making them understand how this service reduces costs and provides great value. How can you address this simply, easily and quickly?

Most objections are based on fear and distrust. The best way to overcome them is to reduce the clients pain. Clearly, records storage is a pain! Business owners have to do it whether they like it or not, and rarely do they have the desire. Records are generally unimportant until they are neededin most cases, when there is trouble, such as a lawsuit, audit or client problem. Then they become the No. 1 priority.

Here are the steps to overcoming the objection of cost:

1. Acknowledge the objection. For example, your response to the customer might be, It seems like everything costs too much these days. But perhaps we can actually reduce your costs.
2. Show the savings. Since small-business packages are built to cost less than the price of renting a 10-by-10 storage unit, records storage is always less expensive than self-storage. Also point out that each new box is simply an incremental cost. The customer only ever needs enough space to accommodate the next cubic foot.
3. Finance the initial work. The work of moving cartons and indexing them into your computer generally carries fees. These charges can be financed and spread over the term of the storage agreement, which should be increased to as long as 60 months to decrease the monthly payments. This has the added effect of ensuring long-term annuity revenue.

Prime Objection #2

Yes, it sounds good, but its too much trouble. Anyone who has stored boxed records for any length of time in an out-of-the-way place knows they become ugly, dirty and disorganized. This represents another pain to the client. If he had wanted to fix the problem, he would already have done so! Most people want these boxes out of sight and out of mind. Rarely do they want to tackle the job of moving them into formal records storage.

But doing so is much easier than they think, and the process can be totally outsourced by youfor a profit. I remember from working in my fathers business that any time someone mentioned taking inventory, the whole staff called in sick. It sounds dreadful. But the fact is, it doesnt have to be if theres a method to your madness. We live in a world of experts.

We outsource our lawn care, legal work, medical care and hundreds of other tasks. No one can be an expert at everything. We must focus on our core skills and let others do the work they do best. Principles require that to get value from outsourcing, a task must be done better and cheaper. Otherwise, do it yourself.

Here are some steps to overcoming the objection of work:

1. Acknowledge the objection. For example, your customer might say, This all sounds good, but I dont have the time, staff or energy to deal with it. You might respond, Yes, it is a lot of work, but dont worry about that. We will do everything for you. May I show you our implementation strategy and plan?
2. Show the implementation plan. Your plan will include a Commitment Action Planning Document (available at no cost via my website). Walk the customer through the stages, including the initial pick-up, inventory and reconciliation.
3. Finance the initial work. Again, the cost of the work can be financed at a profit, with mark-up and interest, in easy-to-swallow monthly payments.
4. Insure accuracy, confidentiality and protection. Your client may work in finance or healthcare and be concerned about privacy and confidentiality. Your records-storage center must be able to assure him his records are safe, protected and require authority for access.

Once you are able to quiet your prospects concerns regarding the cost and effort involved in records storage, you will be free to concentrate on closing the sale. Allaying customer fears leads to consistent revenue in records storage lite.

Regular columnist Cary McGovern, CRM, is the principal of FileMan Records Management, which offers full-service records-management assistance for commercial records storage startups, marketing assistance, and sales training in commercial records-management operations. For assistance in feasibility determination, operational implementation or marketing support, call 877.FILEMAN; e-mail fileman@fileman.com; www.fileman.com.

A correctly executed performance evaluation can:

• Be used as a counseling tool
• Promote quality in your organization
• Help supervisors rate themselves
• Act as a means of assessing a facilitys staffing needs
• Supply vital documentation for EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) purposes

In addition to the evaluation, you should implement performance standards designed to provide a road map of how to be a good employee. Standards establish minimum levels of acceptance and state reasonable job expectations. They also assist in providing consistency between the owners and managers objectives.

The appraisal process starts when the employee and supervisor reach a mutual understanding of what needs to be accomplished. If expectations are not clearly stated, mutually understood and presented in measurable terms, performance will be difficult to evaluate. Goals and standards are methods by which job expectations can be expressed. Those responsible for performance appraisals need to have a good understanding of goals and standards and how to use them.

In general, goals apply more to managers and professional employees who engage in individualized projects. Standards are more common for workers engaging in routine, repetitive tasks. Following are definitions and examples of both.

Goals

A goal is a statement of results to be achieved. Goals describe: 1) conditions that will exist when the desired outcome has been accomplished; 2) a time frame during which the outcome is to be completed; and 3) resources the organization is willing to commit to achieve the desired results.

Goals should be challenging but achievable and established with the participation of those responsible for meeting them. Here is an example of a goal that might be set for a manager: To increase revenue by 6 percent over last years budget numbers. A direct marketing campaign will be implemented on a quarterly basis. The total cost of the direct mailing should not exceed $7,500. Once this goal is accomplished, a new one can be established to emphasize the next set of desired results.

Performance Standards

A performance standard refers to an ongoing criterion that must be met time and again. Standards are usually expressed quantitatively and refer to such things as attendance, safety standards and routine tasks to be completed. Following are several examples of performance standards. These should be customized to your property and specific to your company policies and procedures. They should be an extension of your policy manual and the employee-appraisal system.

Delinquent-Tenant Management

• Dollar delinquency rate should not exceed 5 percent.
• Delinquent tenants should be over-locked according to company policy.
• All legal notices must be mailed on time.
• Late fees should be collected pursuant to company policy.

Salesmanship and Customer Service

• A good manager should score a minimum of 70 on the mystery-shopping evaluation.
• All customers should be greeted as they enter the office.
• All customer complaints should be sent to the facility supervisor.
• In every sales call, prospects must be offered use of the free move-in vehicle.
• During the sales presentation, mention must be made of the stores features and benefits.

Store Appeal

• Office should be clean and organized at all times.
• Public restrooms should be clean, well-stocked and clean-smelling.
• Managers uniforms should be clean and neat.
• All corridors, hallways, stairwells, etc., should be clean and swept.
• Elevators, lifts and ramps should be clean and swept.

Auctions

• All spaces ready for auction should be inventoried, sealed and overlocked.
• The advertisement in the newspaper should be accurate.
• All files should be complete and reviewed by a supervisor before the auction takes place.

Security

• All new tenants must provide a drivers license.
• A copy of the drivers license must be kept in the tenants file or on the computer.
• All delinquent customers should be overlocked.
• There should be no customer locks on vacant spaces.
• The computer should be used for business reasons only.
• No downloading of unauthorized software.

Maintenance

• Landscaping should be free of weeds and debris.
• Greenery should be clean, healthy, neat and trimmed.
• All lights and signs should be operational.
• Entrance curbs should be painted white and look clean.
• Unit doors should be clean and usable.
• Gutters should be clean and in good repair.
• Computer should be regularly maintained.
• Preventative maintenance should be performed according to schedule.

Store Operations

• All customers in good standing should be free of an overlock.
• Bank deposits should be made daily (weekends and holidays excluded).
• Company forms should be used pursuant to the Operations Manual.
• Facility inventory should be completed weekly and crosschecked with the computer.
• Each week, the manager will complete a Plan of Action report that should be faxed to the home office.
• Computer records should be up-to-date on every unit.
• On-site ancillary inventory should be counted on the 15th and at the end of each month.
• Deposits should be collected according to company policy.
• Merchandise should be professionally displayed, well-stocked and priced.
• Relief managers should be trained and proficient in all store operations.

Rental Agreements

• The key provisions of the rental agreement should be explained to the customer during the rental process.
• Rental agreements should be on file for every customer.
• All agreements need to be completed in full and signed by the manager and customer.
• Addendums should be completed and signed by every customer.
• No customer may occupy a space before a rental agreement is signed and the facility has received payment.
• All free units must still carry an agreement signed by the customer (including employees), and the rent amount should show as zero on the agreement and in the computer.

Safety Issues

• All injuries should be reported immediately.
• All work areas should be free of safety hazards.
• Company equipment should be operated pursuant to the instruction manual.
• Untrained personnel should not make unauthorized service or repairs at the property.

Employee Evaluations

Once you have set reasonable expectations for employees in the form of performance standards and goals, you can begin providing constructive feedback through a variety of methods:

• Customer feedback forms
• Monthly manager reports to the owner or supervisor
• Mystery-shopping of sales performance on the telephone and in person
• Performance appraisals
• End-of-year bonus assessments
• Monthly site reports
• Yearly salary reviews

All of your goals, bonuses and assessments should be based on the employees ability to follow company policies, perform the job duties he has been assigned and, last but not least, satisfy customers. Remember, if you dont take care of your customers, someone else will. As the people who handle customer service are your employees, you must train, evaluate and take good care of them.

If you want your organization to stand apart from competitors, you must have quality employees. Consistently train your staff and measure their performance for results. But remember: Measurements of quality should be made through indicators of customer satisfaction, not self-gratification. Learn to see performance through customers eyes.

Businesses often judge their results by factors that dont mean a thing to customers (i.e., profit). While financial factors like expenses and income are important, you must provide what customers expect, such as friendly and reliable service, security, convenient office and access hours, and professional salesmanship. Whether you evaluate employees in meeting company and customer expectations, tenants will surely be evaluating your business. Make the best use of goals and performance standards, and you will all make the grade.

Carol Mixon Krendl, owner of SkilCheck Services, specializes in consulting, training, management and mystery shopping. As a well-known industry expert, she has been involved with self-storage since 1984, participating in the management and development of more than 130 properties nationwide and internationally. She has written many self-storage manuals as well as articles for several industry publications. She served on Self Storage Associations national board of directors for nine years and is the vice president of the newly formed California Self Storage Association. For more information, call 209.333.4555; visit www.skilcheck.com.

Your Tenant stops paying rent on his self-storage unit. You have gone through the legal process of eviction, and now it is time to reclaim your space. You know that whatever the renter leaves behind may be removed and discarded, but only through strict statutory methods. What does that mean? How should you proceed?

First, avoid self-help remedies to such problems. Failure to research tenants rights may expose you to liability for conversion: the act of wrongfully taking, selling, using or destroying the goods of another party. If a tenant believes you did not properly follow the eviction and disposal process, your storage operation can be held responsible for the value of his property. Damages may include payments for emotional distress and the tenants attorney fees. Owners can reduce the risk of conversion claims by reviewing their states lien laws with an attorney and following statutes accordingly.

Due to the incredible diversity of goods stored and the wide range of values of property, the penalty for conversion can be extremely high. Not long ago, a self-storage operator was found liable for $250,000 in damages by a California court for the wrongful sale of a customers possessions. The court ruled the storage owners notice of intention of sale was defective, since his newspaper ad did not include the delinquent tenants name, which was required by state law. The court ruled the operator was negligent and guilty of conversion.

Most states give self-storage operators considerable leverage against delinquent tenants. Nearly every state has specific statutes that govern the sale-and-disposal process, as provided for in the Self-Storage Facility Act. However, if the procedures are not precisely followed or there is an error during any step, the operator leaves himself vulnerable to lawsuits claiming loss or damage of stored goods.

If you are operating in a state in which a statute has been enacted, follow the Self- Storage Facility Act guidelines and state lien laws to the letter. If you are operating in a state with no statute, seek the aid of a legal advisor to include a clearly worded statement in your rental agreement. It should assert that you are a landlord renting storage space to tenants; that neither you nor your employees exert any care, control or custody over a tenants property; and that responsibility for stored property remains vested with the tenant and not the landlord.

Sale-and-Disposal Insurance

Even when the sale-and-disposal process is handled correctly, it is not uncommon for a disgruntled tenant to file a claim against an operator. Case in point: A self-storage facility paid a former tenant a $130,000 settlement for auctioning off his sports and music memorabilia after he failed to pay rent for several months. Before the auction, the operator tried to reach the tenant by certified mail as required by state law.

The tenant claimed he never received the notification letters and thought his accountant was paying the rent. Even though the case had been settled with no admission of guilt on the part of the storage facility, the companys insurance had to pay the hefty settlement cost. Sale-and-disposal legal-liability insurance is an important coverage that should be considered an essential part of every self-storage owners business-insurance package. Although it is not normally available through regular insurance carriers and generally cannot be added to a standard policy, it can be secured through insurers that specialize in self-storage.

However, basic coverage is not enough. Underinsuring a facility for sale-and-disposal legal liability is an expensive risk. The cost of liability coverage is relatively low compared to potential claims. Storage owners may want to review their limits with an insurance agent to ensure coverage fits the size and scope of their operations. A large operation with many units should obviously have more coverage than a smaller facility.

Even if your policy is not up for renewal, it is worth looking at this area of coverage to determine if your aggregate is sufficient. An aggregate is the annual limit the insurance company will pay out for claims. If your limit is $500,000 per year and you have multiple or large claims that exceed that amount, you will likely be held responsible for payment, putting your assets at risk. If a facility is uninsured or underinsured for sale-and-disposal legal-liability risks, an insurance agent specializing in self-storage can review and offer higher limits of protection.

Amy Brown is part of Universal Insurance Facilities Ltd., which offers sale-and-disposal legal-liability coverage as part of its extensive self-storage insurance program. Universal provides coverage against loss or damage to stored property and protects against claims arising from the sale, removal, disposal or disposition of delinquent customers goods. The coverage also provides for defense and legal costs, even if a customers suit is groundless or fraudulent. For more information or a free copy of your states lien laws, call 800.844.2101; e-mail uif@vpico.com.

If youre like most storage operators, you collect pertinent contact information from tenants when they rent a unit, including a copy of their drivers license. In this age of the Internet, you should also collect their e-mail addresses.

Before we discuss the incredible benefits of using e-mail to regularly send information to customers, we need to talk about SPAM, which is unsolicited e-mail communication. You need to get permission to send regular e-mailings to customers or you can face consequences. Add a clause to cover this in your rental agreement, or you can create a separate form to solicit consent. As an incentive, consider offering a $10 discount off their first months rent if they provide their e-mail address. Once you have a list of addresses and permission to use them, you have a powerful marketing method at your fingertips.

Content and Frequency

Now that youve got tenants e-mail addresses, what do you send? Your messages should include information that is directly or tangentially related to storage. This can include storage tips as well as information on travel, packing, moving and anything else you can think of that has some relevance to the business.

Keep your messages short, less than 250 words, and limit them to one or two topics. As Bill OReilly says, keep them pithy! Over time, make note of ideas for new mailings. As you start writing regular email messages, youll become more conscious of what works best and mentally archive possibilities for your list. Before long, it will become second nature. Most important, provide information people will truly find valuable.

Never e-mail customers more than once a week or less than once a month. If you e-mail more frequently, youll annoy them. If you contact them less often, theyll forget who you are. To e-mail tenants and former tenants effectively, you need a system or routine. Your messages will be most successful when tenants learn to expect and appreciate them. For convenience, it should be easy for people to subscribe to or unsubscribe from your list.

Additional Revenue

When you send tenants regular e-mail messages, you begin to establish a relationship with them. If they like you and your staff and are impressed with the information you send, they will often follow your advice. So if you know of a product or service that would be of interest to your audience, offer them a referral. For example, include a link to a vendors website or other contact information.

Never make such a recommendation, however, unless you have done your due diligence and are sure the vendors products and services are superior. Referring customers to suppliers who are substandard will get you in trouble with your subscribers and jeopardize your own credibility. What items make good referrals for tenants? It depends on the orientation of your storage facility. If you offer boat storage, for example, you might recommend a retailer of boat accessories and supplies. If you have a traditional facility, refer customers to companies that offer travel or moving services.

How does this lead to additional revenue? Strive to promote companies that offer an affiliate program, meaning they offer a commission for introducing them to your customers. You earn a percentage of the revenue vendors earn from your customers. Most serious businesses will offer such a program. If they dont, theres no harm in making the suggestion.

Post Move-Out Mail

Why does it make sense to continue e-mailing people who have moved out of your facility? They may need to rent storage again in the future, and you want to remain at the forefront of their minds. And just because they arent currently renting from you doesnt mean they cant be a great source of referrals. If you stay in contact, they will think of you when the topic of storage comes up in conversation, and referrals are a very important component of any good storage business.

Get your customers to give you their e-mail addresses. Lure them with incentives if necessary. E-mail them regularly even after they move out of your facility. Look for other ways to create revenue with the valuable relationships you establish. Follow this advice, and you'll be miles ahead of your competitors.

Fred Gleeck is a profit-maximization consultant who helps self-storage owners/operators during all phases of the business, from the feasibility study to the creation of an ongoing marketing plan. He is the author of Secrets of Self Storage Marketing SuccessRevealed!, available for purchase at www.selfstoragesuccess.com. He is also the producer of professional training videos on self-storage marketing. To receive a copy of his Seven-Day Self-Storage Marketing Course and storage marketing tips, send an e-mail to tips@selfstoragesuccess.com. For more information, call 800.FGLEECK; e-mail fgleeck@aol.com.

Friendly and personable, but not distinguishing their properties from competitors, and not attempting to close. That was the overall conclusion from a recent study of storage-facility managers and employees. My company conducted this first-ever Benchmark Telephone Mystery-Shopping Study for the self-storage industry. Mystery callers placed almost 1,000 calls to more than 500 storage facilities across the United States, posing as very interested potential customers.

Too often, storage owners hire managers and employees based on their personalities, rarely with any testing of their telephone- sales techniques or ability to close a sale. Then they provide little if any specialized training, and do even less follow-up and ongoing monitoring to ensure their staff investment is providing value. If tests are not administered to determine a hires strengths beforehand, mystery-shopping services can at least provide a map for improvement moving forward.

Study Identifies Weaknesses

Here is an example of the type of calls encountered during the study (all names have been changed to protect the guilty!): One manager answered by saying, Thank you for calling ABC Storage. This is Debbie. I told her I could barely hear her, and she said she was in an elevator, on her cell phone, running an errand. There was a great deal of static, and it was very difficult to understand her. She asked if I could call her back in about 45 minutesnot what I would call a professional presentation.

The study identified many challenges managers have in telephone-sales techniques:

• Only 25.4 percent of those called actually asked the prospect if he wanted to rent a unit. The first rule of sales is: If you dont ask for the sale, you wont get it! Specifically asking someone for his business in a friendly manner without being pushy will, at the very least, bring out his objections. Upon hearing those, a good salesperson kicks into a new mode to overcome those protests and move the customer toward closure. You would be surprised how many more sales can be made by simply asking for the business.
• While almost 98 percent of the callers were invited to visit a property, only 33 percent were asked to set an appointment. Simply inviting someone to visit is not effective and results in little or no commitment from the prospect. Asking to set a specific date and time will result in more actual visits and, thus, more new customers. The majority of prospects who visit a facility will rent a unit provided they are handled appropriately.
• Only 21 percent of managers offered to send the caller any follow-up information. If 67 percent of prospects are not invited to make an appointment and 79 percent are not offered follow-up information, what will get them to your property? In most areas of the country, consumers have multiple options for storage space, and if you dont use tactics to get them to rent from you, you risk competing on price or losing them to a competitor who has better sales tactics.
• Finally, 22 percent of those called did not provide information about the propertys features. In most cases, they seemed to want to get off the phone as quickly as possible and simply answered the basic questions posed to them. Again, with multiple existing competitors and new ones constantly entering the market, you must make it clear why a prospect should rent only from you. Otherwise, you will be lumped in with your competitors and simply evaluated on price.

The Friendliness Factor

The good news from the study is the vast majority of employees answering the phones are friendly. That means half the battle is already won. If a customer doesnt like your employee, or the employee doesnt present a friendly, professional image, all the sales training in the world will not help him sell more space. In this area of the study:

• Phones were answered in a friendly, professional manner 92 percent of the time. For this study, an employee was considered friendly if he stated his name and the property name in the greeting, had a sincere tone of voice, focused on the caller, and silenced all unprofessional background noise during the call.
• 90.9 percent asked the prospect how they could be of help.
• 94.9 percent asked the prospect questions to determine his needs.
• 92.5 percent exhibited enthusiasm, friendliness, and a positive and professional demeanor.
• 83.2 percent thanked the caller in a sincere, friendly tone.
• Only 39.8 used the propertys name in the closing.

At the conclusion of each call, mystery-shoppers were asked the highly subjective question, Based on your conversation with this employee today, would you rent storage space from him/her? Their answer was not based on any factors about the property, such as the features described, pricing, spaces available, etc. It was founded solely on whether they were comfortable with the person with whom they spoke (the friendliness factor). Nearly 87 percent of our callers responded positively.

The takeaway from this is friendliness is important in self-storage, probably even more so given our high reliance on telephone sales. But if a competitor has an equally personable employee answering his phones, owners must design and implement a sales process that distinguishes them from competition and requires their salespeople to actually ask for the business.

If you are not measuring your employees telephone performance on an ongoing basis, you should start immediately. Mystery-shopping programs can provide an incredible tool for quick, effective improvements in sales techniques and result in more sales. Used appropriately, they can also help you motivate and retain outstanding employees.

Ron Welty is the president of Perrysburg, Ohio-based IntelliShop, a national provider of mystery-shopping and other customer-experience measurement services throughout the United States. For more information, call 877.894.6349; visit www.intelli-shop.com.