Benefits of Secret Shopping

Everyone has heard of the old adage, dont run with scissors or dont run with a fork in your hand. These are phrases we tell children about the knowledge of home safety rules. This old adage can also apply to self storage businesses who want to thrive in customer service. In other words, don’t run a self storage business without secret shopping on hand. Just like running with scissors or a fork, running a self storage business without secret shopping is dangerous. Running a self storage business without secret shopping as a training tool is like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute. Ok, that’s a bit cliché. Let’s try this; running a self storage business without secret shopping is like playing badminton next to a black bear cave using salmon as rackets and a jar of honey as the birdie. If that doesn’t make any sense to you, then either does running a self storage business without using secret shopping as a training tool.

More and more self storage companies use secret shopping to train and sharpen the sales skills of their property managers. As the self storage industry becomes more competitive each year, it is essential for every self storage business to adopt secret shopping into their training program. Secret shopping only has a positive affect on the self storage business. So without any negatives, how can you argue against secret shopping?

There are many different types of secret shopping programs, but the better ones offer the benefits listed below. But first if you are not familiar with secret shopping, here is a crash course. During business hours, a caller posing as a real customer calls a self storage business inquiring about self storage. The caller’s needs vary depending each time he or she makes a secret shopping call. While the property manager giving his spiel about a self storage unit, the secret shopper is evaluating the property managers performance. At the end of the sales portion of the call, the caller reveals his or her real identity as a secret shopper. However, the call does not end here. The sales call transforms to a training session call. Secret shoppers are not just evaluators; they are sales professionals as well. The secret shopper will discuss the call with the property manager going over weak areas as well as strong areas. Now the property manager can take this feedback to his very next call.

Self storage companies that neglect to use secret shopping as a training mechanism are not as qualified to handle self storage customers needs. Self storage customers rather deal with a self storage professional than someone with limited training. A self storage profession can help a potential storage customer with all of their storage needs. Whether it is boat storage, classic car storage, piano storage, or RV storage, a secret shopped self storage property manager can help. They are not someone who sits behind a desk and assigns storage units to customers. They are self storage consultants armed with an encyclopedia of self storage knowledge.

So listen to your mother; don’t run with scissors. Start using secret shopping now.

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