by Silvia Pendleton, Director of Marketing and Membership

I recently heard a comment that stopped me in my tracks. The comment was something along the lines of “I’m doing more marketing than ever. Marketing has overtaken advertising.” Huh? As a marketing professional, I take exception to that kind of thinking. Perhaps that’s why so many people find marketing to be such a challenge and something to be avoided and seen as a last resort.

Let me try to clarify. Advertising is a component of marketing. Marketing is a process that encompasses many activities, including advertising, public relations, sales, promotions, and all communication activities. If you narrow your scope and idea of what marketing is, you’re missing out on the full benefit of what it can do for your business.

Marketing is anything that either helps you rent a storage unit, sell boxes, rent trucks, or keeps you from reaching that goal. Is your sign visible from the road? Is your facility hidden behind another building? At night, is your facility well lighted and visible? Is your phone number visible? Do potential tenants have to drive through a construction zone to get to you? Are they guessing about your office hours? Are they reaching an answering machine every time they try to reach you? Does your office look abandoned even in the middle of the day?

The list could go on and on. These are the things that either enhance or detract from the renter’s experience when they try to rent or buy from you. What you do to enhance or remedy the situation is the marketing process.

Training your employees to answer all calls before the second ring is part of the process. Teaching them how to close the sale is also part of the process, as is making sure your sign is working and visible. When a customer walks in the door, a simple greeting and acknowledgement might seem like common sense, but if it enhances the customer’s experience, it becomes part of the overall marketing process. If this one step is left out or ignored, all the advertising in the world will not make up for it.

Keep this in mind the next time you’re going to the bank wearing your facility’s logo on your shirt, or driving your vehicle with your facility’s name on the doors; you’re part of the marketing/advertising process. How you interact with the tellers at the bank is as much of an advertisement about your business as your ad in the phone book. And, it’s more memorable too.

If you find that you’re getting better results from one marketing effort over another, then you can concentrate on doing more of that particular activity. Perhaps that’s the meaning behind the comment I overheard. More than likely, the activities such as face-to-face meetings, civic involvement and sponsorship of community events produced better results over traditional advertising. All of these activities are part of marketing. Don’t neglect one over the other without careful tracking and analyzing.

As for me, I’ve learned my lesson. Next time I hear someone commenting on their marketing efforts, I’m either going to ask more questions, or I’m going to turn up the volume on my iPod and keep on walking.

By Delia Passi

So what do women want? That’s a loaded question but considering I’m tasked with focusing on what women want in self storage we can scratch the surface today and dig even deeper in our next blog and for sure at the conference.

Let’s consider the facts. Given that women are responsible or at least highly influential for the vast majority of household decisions, it makes sense to give a lot of attention to attracting her interest in your facility when making marketing plans.

Are you thinking about the woman of the house when you itemize the benefits of your facility? Women are just as concerned about how much you charge and how convenient your location is to her, but she will give greater consideration to other factors than most men will in a similar decision making situation.

Women will be more conscious of the security of your facility, not just as it concerns her stored belongings, but as it concerns her personal safety and that of her family members when they are at the facility. Your marketing should give lots of information regarding both the physical and personal security aspects of the facility. How many cameras do you have? What percent of the property inside and out is covered by them? Are they being watched at all times?

Your website is a great place to demonstrate the security you’ve put in place. Show lots of photos of the property, and include a layout diagram. Put a link to an aerial view of the property if it is helpful in showing her the security benefits and the surroundings. She can find these on the web herself, but if you offer it she will know you care more by showing it.

Another concern for your women customers is the ease with which she can load, unload, store and transport her belongings. Do you provide any additional conveniences that she might appreciate? If so, then give it attention in your list of benefits. Tell her about carts, dollies and assistance she can get to make bringing or taking her belongings easier. You might consider offering recommendations on moving services she could use. Make sure those moving services are women friendly (or preferably WomenCertified®) as well.

You should also know how to treat her with respect, concern, and dignity when she comes in contact with your employees. Yes, I’m talking about WomenCertified. The training your employees get when they are WomenCertified will ensure that they know how she wants to be treated, how she ommunicates her preferences, and how she makes a decision to use you or stay with you.

Stay tuned. In my next blog ‐ how decisions are driven by life events.

Delia Passi is CEO and founder of WomenCertified Inc., a business that helps other businesses become more women friendly, and helps women find those businesses. If you want to show women that you care about them and their business, you can learn more at www.womencertified.com.

by Kenny Pratt, Crescendo Properties

Recently I learned a great lesson when I was visiting one of my stores and talking to a customer who had just finished renting a storage space.

Janet was shopping around for storage on the Internet on a Sunday. Unfortunately for me, my stores are not open on Sunday, so her e-mail inquiry languished for a day in the unattended inbox. One day is like an eternity in Internet time. First thing on Monday morning my on-site manager replies with an upbeat message offering some basic details about our location and inviting Janet to call or e-mail with questions.

Then the bad news… Janet replied that she had already been contacted the day before (the day we were closed) by a competitor and had made other arrangements. Bummer.

Well, my on-site manager is pretty awesome and was not deterred. She told Janet that we would love to have her business, that we were offering some pretty good move-in incentives on the size she was looking for, and that we would be glad to reimburse her for any reservation charges she may have already incurred. She asked Janet to consider us if she hadn’t already moved into the storage space she reserved on Sunday.

Janet was interested in saving a few bucks and the e-mails turned into a phone call from Janet, and a deal was negotiated that had Janet moving into my location and not the competitor’s. All because my on-site manager was persistent and was willing to make a deal.

We rented the storage space to Janet on a Tuesday afternoon.

The moral of the story is two fold. First, sometimes a little persistence pays off. Second, you must follow up with your prospective customers.

Janet teaches us that even when you think you have a commitment to rent, you are still vulnerable. Follow up is also effective when your prospective customer is actively shopping. If they are still shopping, you may be able to win their business because you do the best job of building a relationship over time. No sales skills needed. You can win with a little persistence and some simple actions that show your prospective customers that you care.

——
Kenny Pratt gives away his best ideas on his self storage sales training blog. He is also President of Crescendo Properties, a self storage investment and management firm operating 14 properties in the western United States (his Round Rock Self Storage is near the TSSA headquarters).

By Brom Hoban, TSSA Director of Communications

You can stop by Barnes & Noble and buy any number of books on management, and you can Google “best management practices” and sort through a few million pages to see what advice is out there.

But in my opinion, one of the best ways to learn effective management practices (besides attending a TSSA seminar like the upcoming Crucial Customer Service Connections) is to emulate a real manager who embodies those attributes.

Take George*, for example, a self-storage manager. The first thing I noticed about George was that he was a people person. He showed a great deal of interest in me, and was very helpful in explaining everything I needed to know about renting a unit.

In addition, George was flexible. I needed a unit that would accommodate some large items. I was interested in a 10’ x 20’, but there were none available. Luckily, George was able to combine two 10’ x 10’s by removing a wall, and voila, I had the unit I wanted.

He was knowledgeable about his products and services. Though self storage is not rocket science, there are some things to know that will help consumers store items properly. In my case, he was able to give me some valuable tips concerning storing a refrigerator, as well as some other items like art supplies. Plus, he steered me to the right kind of lock (disc) when I was headed for the cheapo basic padlock.

He was friendly. Self-storage managers (the good ones!) know that storing your stuff can be a bit emotional. Even when storage is involved in simple scenarios like moving from one house to another, stress can run high. Well aware of that, George was a good listener, and proved to be a good sounding board on the subject of hydraulic lifts versus ramps for loading trucks.

He went the extra mile. When I pulled up later that evening, my truck loaded with numerous items, including a heavy old TV that I still haven’t figured out what to do with, George happened to stop by to check on the facility. He gladly helped me figure out the best way to place stuff in my unit, though it certainly was not in his job description.

By now, you may be wondering what the * by George’s name is referring to. Well, I confess, George himself does not exist. I have, however, visited quite a few facilities, and had occasion to store at several as well, and George is a “composite” of the best self-storage managers I’ve met.

So in a sense, he is a real person, and a manager all can aspire to be!

Jackie Ramstedt, CAM, CAPS, CAS ~ Owner, CMO Chief Motivational Officer ~ Ramstedt Enterprises, Inc. ~ Austin, Texas ~ 800.925.5169 ~ www.JackieRamstedt.com

On October 26, I had the honor of speaking to TSSA members for the first time at the annual convention in The Woodlands. My background is in the multi-family housing industry, and I specialize in management performance, sales, resident retention, and customer service training. I have always said that any time you have a product or service to sell, customers who will buy those products, and employees who have an immediate influence on those customers, you have a “common bond” of customer service challenges.

So when I was asked to speak to self-storage managers, I was a little apprehensive at first, given that I had never personally managed a self-storage facility before. So I had no first-hand experience from which to pull from as to your specific issues, since your customers (hopefully) don’t live in their units as they do in the apartment industry!

But I have to tell you, I was incredibly moved by the warmth, friendliness, and openness of every one of your members ready to embrace my suggestions. I soon realized that our two worlds were not so far apart. I began to feel at ease and comfortable with the research I had done on the self storage industry; in fact, during my seminar, I remember saying to myself, “These are definitely my kind of people!”

My seminar was on customer service, which seemed to be a theme throughout the day. During my session, I was thrilled to see the room filled to capacity—probably half who wanted to actually get some new ideas and the other half out of sheer curiosity about who this new speaker was. No matter; I think everyone had a great time, including me!

The last few minutes of my seminar focused on giving your customers what they REALLY want, and I would like to share some of those thoughts…

1. Be available for your customers when THEY need you. Remember they are the ones “voting with their dollars” every month, and their needs come first.

2. If you have a feature—call me silly—it should be working! Broken access gates, lights out, etc. just remind the customer of the level of professionalism and attention to detail (or lack thereof) you are displaying to them.

3. Ask them for their own solutions. Many times we think only on one level when managing our stores. Great solutions can be created by soliciting ideas regularly from your customers. Not only does the problem get solved, but those whom it affects most will feel they have had their say in the matter and therefore will “buy into” that solution.

4. Hire happy people to work at your store! Because you may not see every one of your customers every day, it makes it even MORE important that when they DO see the staff, they are HAPPY! Remember, as I illustrated at my seminar, everyone needs to be on that “Happy Bus” for that first impression AND throughout the customer’s time at your store.

Don’t forget to be a Customer Service Asset….with the acronym of ASSET meaning:
A - Amazing
S - Service
S - Satisfaction
E - Eliminates
T- Turnover!

Running a business isn’t really difficult if you remember this: great product quality and an effective system of good communication with your customers, coupled with positive “happy” attitudes of the staff = Outstanding Customer Satisfaction!

So how was your time at the convention? Mine was PRICELESS!!!

Like everyone else in the country, I’m paying more attention to where I spend my money, and nothing makes me question a buying decision more quickly than feeling unappreciated because of poor customer service.

For example, a few weeks ago, I was out running errands and stopped at a mid-priced eatery and decided to pick something up to take with me. This particular restaurant isn’t one of those fast-food places with a 99 cent menu, but it isn’t a full-service restaurant either. It has a nice waiting area for take-out orders and I was pleasantly surprised when they offered me a free drink while I waited.

Later that weekend, I again found myself eating out. This time my husband and I chose a moderately-priced chain restaurant that we both enjoy. From the moment we were seated, our waiter was attentive, almost to the point of annoyance, but he anticipated our every need throughout the meal. We never once had to look around to find him, never had to ask for drink refills, we didn’t even have to ask for a to-go box!

My next dining-out experience was for a special occasion and my husband and I, opted for one of the nicer restaurants in town. Cozy tables, linen table cloths, and we knew, from previous visits, that the food is very good. We waited for several minutes at the hostess stand while waiters scurried around busing tables and practically tripping over us — but never even acknowledged that we were there! We were finally seated and I thought surely we were over the rough start. But that was not to be. They were out of their signature bread, we were missing some cutlery, we were constantly out of drinks - and not a waiter in sight. We even had to wait for our check. The worst part of the evening was when I noticed on the way out that the entire wait staff was lounging on one of the banquettes and none bothered to thank us on our way out.

Here’s what I’ve learned. My expectations were exceeded in the first two restaurants. I felt appreciated, and even though the ticket amount was relatively small, the level of customer service did not falter. My business was not taken for granted. Restaurant number three, however, has probably lost my business.

So my question to you is this: What makes YOU feel appreciated? Is it a friendly smile, an unexpected treat, attentive sales people, having someone anticipate your needs?

None of us can afford to take our customers for granted. Every day is an opportunity to let them know that their business is appreciated. Are you living up to your customers’ expectations?

It doesn’t take much to create a pleasant experience for our customers. Think about your favorite places to shop. Why do you go back? Why do you choose one store over another? Find those satisfaction points and apply them to your business.

Take a look around your place of business. Start at the curb and work your way inside. Does your facility say, “Welcome, we’re glad you’re here” or is it telling your customers that you can’t be bothered? Tenants are watching where they spend their money, too. Don’t give them a reason to feel unappreciated and take their business elsewhere.