The questions America should be asking are Why is this happening? And what can be done about it? Both of these are hard questions to tackle. And, to make things worse, the answers may be even harder to swallow. For many, the easy answer is to lay the blame on the current presidential administration. Sure, why not? There is plenty of evidence to show the economy and job employment figures have taken a not-so-graceful nosedive over the past couple of years.

But if you dig more deeply, and do a little bit of research, you can see that job employment is not tied entirely to the economy or the presidents policies. So, one might query, what else has changed? The first thing that has is a certain group of people who are now flooding the job market on all income brackets. Since women have been gaining equality in the job market, the availability of jobs and career paths that once could be easily had by men are no longer certain. In the not-too-distant past, discrimination against women prevented them from holding any high positions within companies or corporations. But things are more equitable now, and with that shift in social views came a natural shift in the functioning of society.

Another reason people are having a harder time finding job employment is the saturation of new higher-education graduates. Again, our society is changing, and while in the past very few people could hold college degrees, they are becoming more commonplace everyday. Some researches have said that a college diploma is the new high school diploma. It seems that to have a chance with even the lowest level job, one must have a bachelor of something, regardless of what it is.

The problem with that approach by business owners and managers is they are cutting off a potentially valuable group of people. Having a degree is invaluable, for many reasons, but just because a person does not hold one should not immediately cut them out of the running for low-level positions.

While the aforementioned changes do present some challenges for the job-seeker, they also serve to benefit the U.S. in a few ways as well. The upsurge in women in the marketplace can undoubtedly be seen as a positive thing. To discriminate based on gender is an outdated and oppressive way of thinking. Disposing of harmful policies and social views is a great way to move culture forward. In addition to that, bringing women into the job market creates more healthy competition for job employment, and thereby should increase the overall quality of people holding top corporate and managerial positions.

The saturation of job seekers with degrees under their belts can also be seen as a very positive thing in its own right. The simple reason for that is, it means our society is becoming smarter and better educated as a whole. Ideally, this would mean we are on the track to becoming a more peaceful and productive nation, but only time will tell if that becomes true.

While the job market may be slim pickings at the moment, job seekers should not give up hope. Some of the causes of the scarce amount of jobs hold their own positive attributes, and could definitely help you in the long run.

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What do Jane Peterson, William LeBaron, and Josh Caterer all have in common? They are all artists who hail from Elgin, IL. One may be a TV artist while the other is a successful painter and visual artist, while still another relies on the musical notes to make his artistic prowess known. Interestingly, in many cities around the country, Elgin, IL has become known as the place to be for aspiring artists of all disciplines, and thus it is not at all surprising to find recent college grads with degrees in fine arts waitressing right next to those with a degree in music.

Home to a symphony orchestra, an opera, a theatre, and a vibrant arts center, music and also visual arts are celebrated in this city. Perhaps not surprisingly, artists appreciate Elgin, IL self storage solutions to house some of the paraphernalia, and there are actually those who have been able to secure self storage units containing skylights which they have converted into impromptu studios.

Is this a commonly accepted mode of utilizing Elgin’s self storage unit? No, it is decidedly not part and parcel of any rental agreement, but in some cases benevolent storage facility owners will turn a blind eye to the visual artist creating his merchandise, or the musician practicing with the band for half an hour out of the storage unit. While artists appreciate Elgin, IL self storage, those who are part and parcel of the continuing influx of residents that come to live in this beautiful area also like the idea of renting a small space where at least temporarily their goods may be stored until they find permanent housing.

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Here’s what happens when you’ve done well with your customers. Their internal dialog goes, “Hmm, well, I don’t really want to spend $100; but I guess if that’s what it costs, that’s okay. She’s pretty nice. It looks like a pretty clean place. I’ve got other things to do; I can’t spend all day on this. I might as well just get this done. Okay, fine.” That’s what their internal dialogue does, and this is what you’re after,.

If you can help that person’s internal dialog go, “Seems like nice people. Seems like a nice enough place. Seems like the money’s not too bad. Okay, I’ll do this.” Then you’re in like Flynn, and the next thing they tell you will be, “How do you want me to pay you?”

How many times have you had it happen when you’re standing at the counter or showing someone a unit, that the person turns to you to say, “Well, do you take cash, check, or credit card?” This is a great moment in the sales process. You have helped them talk themselves into renting from you.

Now usually you do have to ask them to rent from you, or you have to say, “Well, here, all I need you to do is fill this out.”

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But why do they really decide? If you’ve seen some of the studies done, you know that location is still the number one reason why people pick a place to store their stuff. So right away if somebody tells you they like your location, that means they have tolerance for features, they have tolerance for price. They have tolerance for all kinds of things if they really like your location. They like to have perceived security. You don’t have to have armed guards in the place; they just have to look at your place and say to themselves, “Yeah, it looks like the place is pretty secure.”

You don’t have to promise them security. In fact, if you promise them security, the attorneys who specialize in self storage will knock you over the head. You do not have to promise customers security. They just need to feel like you’ve taken enough security precautions so it’s likely going to be secure. The appearance of your place also has to be nice. Now you don’t have to have Renoir murals on the wall and have professional landscapers come in every other day, but the place has to be comparatively clean and neat. That’s what they expect. Even if they’re going to keep their own unit junky, they want at least the rest of the place to look clean and neat. And they want some amenities for their money. They want to get some value for their dollar.

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So when they talk to you and they’re concerned about price, they want to know if the person behind your desk thinks it’s a good price. If they think the person behind the desk thinks that you charge too much, you’re sunk. That’s why your people have to assume the close, they have to be comfortable with what you charge; they have to believe that your place is a good value for the money. If that’s the impression people get, then your customers accept the price for what it is. They accept that your people know what they’re talking about, are honest, and have confidence in their offering. What’s wrong with that?

However if your people expect that everyone they talk to will have sticker shock and so your staff people give the price hesitantly and then duck for cover so they aren’t hurt when the prospect says, “it costs how much?”, you are sunk. The prospect thinks the squirming that your staff people do is because your staff people think your units are too expensive and a lousy deal. This reinforces any initial impression in your prospect’s mind that price is a determining factor in choosing storage. It also makes your staff price-shy and causes them to tell you that the reasons rentals are off pace this month is because the units are priced too high.

If instead, your staff people are calm and confident about pricing and focus on the value your facility offers and the convenience of doing business with you, your prospects will accept the price for what it is and will see the issue as a matter of value and not a matter of price. Everybody wants to do business with somebody who can instill confidence in a purchase like that, don’t they?

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I have a great example. I had lunch one time at a trade show with some folks that I see at a lot of the trade shows, and we had an enjoyable chat about all kinds of stuff, but we had one of those disaster-service lunches. Nothing went right. The kitchen didn’t get any of the order right. It took two tries for Peggy and Jack to get their food right. It took the staff four times to get the right plate out to me. And we weren’t the only table they were having trouble with. You could see other tables getting re-served. It was a small disaster. I mean, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I got my lunch and I got to have some good conversation; the food was actually good, so I was happy. But the interesting thing about the whole situation was how flustered our waitress was the whole time. She even sent somebody else to take care of our table because she couldn’t handle it anymore.

The folks I was sitting with, Peggy and Jack said they were at a restaurant a week earlier at home, and it was a disaster, too. It was not only a disaster in getting food on time and getting the order right, but the food was even terrible. But the waiter they had did everything he could to make it right, and they were so pleased with how the waiter handled things and the little efforts he made to try to make things right, that he ended up with a good tip.

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And this is happening right now. You’re talking to yourself right now while you’re reading this. You’re thinking, “Gosh, what’s this guy doing? I stayed up too late. I hope my 401K increases in value this quarter. Why is Tron going on and on about this?” You’ve got all sorts of thoughts going on in your head, and I’ve got stuff going on in my head too. I’m thinking, “Geez, I hope they enjoy this. I hope nobody falls asleep reading this.” That is just how it is.

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It will not work every time. But when it does not work, it is a great set-up to invite both partners down to the store to look around and select a unit that they can agree on. Setting an appointment for both spouses to take a quick tour is never a bad secondary outcome of the conversation.

In the worst case scenario, you can tell the spouse you are talking to all the reasons why the other spouse will like storing with you, so he or she can be your proxy sales person and close the deal for you. This will work especially well if your proxy sales person can create a little urgency fro you.

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And then you’re going to get the ones in the middle you’re going to have to work for, and here’s where you’re going to have to get good at dealing with concerns. The biggest concern normally is the “not ready”. You’ve gone through your agreements, you feel like you’ve gotten somewhere with this caller, and you attempt to put a hold on that unit. First of all, how do you attempt to put a hold on that unit? You do that by creating urgency with limited availability. “Well, it sounds like you’re going to fit into that 10×10.

Does that sound like a good unit to you?” “Yes, it does.” “Great. Well, since availability is limited, the best way I could help you today would be to put that unit on hold for you. What’s your first name?” and you begin your order-blank close. Before you get very far, the prospect says, “Well, wait a minute; I’m not ready to rent anything yet.” Okay. Well, what does “not ready” mean? Does it mean he is not ready to store or not ready to store with you? So ask a few questions. “Are you moving, or do you just need to get a few things out of the way?” “Have you called a few places yet? What did you find?” Find out what’s going on with their situation.

At some point they’ll say, “Well, really what the issue is… I don’t know when my house is going to close. I haven’t even called the real estate agent yet. I don’t know what I need,” and you find out what the real story. Now you can help the prospect realize that it would be best to get the storage unit now and be able to stage the house for quick sale and start getting organized for the moving.

Or the prospect may say, “Well, you know, I talked to XYZ Storage down the street, and they’re five dollars cheaper than you.” Well, now you’ve got someplace to go with the conversation because you can explain how the value of your place is worth way more than five dollars and storing with you is the best way to go.

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You want people to get in their units now so they can start moving in slowly so they don’t have a big crisis when it comes down to zero hour on moving day. So use your limited availability to help those people get in sooner. It goes like this: “Since availability is limited, the best way I could help you would be to go ahead and put a hold on that unit for you. Now what was your first name?” and go to your order blank close. This simple phrase is how you put a hold on the unit for people.

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It just won’t work to try to put these price stalls in your own words right away, so let’s not do that. Use them verbatim. “Let me pull up my price screen; and while that’s loading, let me tell you a little bit about us.” “In order for me to quote you the right price, let me just ask you a few questions.” “A lot goes into the price of a storage unit, and let me tell you what you get for your money here.” “Since availability affects pricing, tell me how soon you’re going to need a unit and I’ll see what I have available.” “Sure I can help you with that, how soon will you need your unit?”

This how you allow the caller to allow you get some agreement, to let you build some value before you give price. Because most people have no idea what a storage unit costs. Cost should be the last thing you discuss whenever possible. Whether it costs a dollar or hundred dollars, it costs more than storing in their Uncle’s attic for free, and that makes it seem expensive to first time storage customers.

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Price stall number one: “Let me pull up my price screen; and while that’s loading, let me tell you a little bit about us. Now how soon did you say you were going to need something? Oh, okay, great! And do you know where we’re located over on 5th Street? Okay, well then you know we’re a really great place to store because we’ve got this convenience and that convenience. Sounds like it’s a convenient place to store, doesn’t it? And we’ve also got this security feature and that security feature, which means we take security very serious. And after all, you do too, don’t you?”

Wow! Before you know it, you’ve already got three agreements out of the way, and you haven’t even talked about size, and you still haven’t given the price, and the caller is perfectly fine with it because your price screen is pulling up. And now up comes your price screen. You can talk about size, figure out price, and set a time to get the caller in the store. Few people will argue with this price stall, because they do not assume you know every price off the top of your head. They understand that it takes a minute to load a computer screen.

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Now, anyone who’s halfway friendly and halfway knowledgeable will do business with the easy third. Sometimes you don’t even have to be friendly or knowledgeable, you just have to know how to collect the payment. That’s why fast-food companies make so much money with such unskilled labor because when you’re craving for a taco, you’re getting a taco no matter how rude the people in the drive-through window or behind the counter are. That’s just how it goes, and that’s what the fast food companies bank on. They know that one group loves tacos and is coming for their tacos no matter what. They invest their dollars in marketing, so the middle third that can go either way learns to crave their food. Your craving will make you buy, even in spite of less than good customer service and in spite of the fact that you really don’t love tacos that much anyway. Creating a craving is the key to good marketing for most kinds of products.

Now, on the other hand, the people who aren’t looking for tacos aren’t even going to make the stop. So the taco makers don’t care about that impossible third for immediate business. They do try to get the impossible third to reconsider their position with ad campaigns like “think outside the bun” or “Fourth Meal”.

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Mi nombre es Ljubica Darnell de nacionalidad Peruana y con mucho orgullo; resido aquí en Los Estados Unidos hace siete años. Actualmente empleada por Phone-Smart donde desempeño diversas funciones lo que me ha permitido tener un amplio conocimiento acerca de “Storage.” Una de las funciones que desempeño en Phone-Smart es la de entrenamiento a los nuevos empleados que hablan el idioma español, durante el entrenamiento siempre me preguntan como debo de traducir “Storage” o que palabra debo de usar. Con la experiencia de mas de dos años en este negocio he tenido la oportunidad de hablar con clientes de diferentes partes del mundo que hablan el idioma español, por ejemplo hable con una señora de Cuba y pregunto cuanto cuestan los “Cuarticos” una persona de México me pregunto cuanto cuestan los “Depósitos” otro cliente me pregunto por “Warehouse” otro cliente de Centro América me pregunto por el precio de los “Almacenes” Lo que yo le recomiendo a todos los nuevos empleados de Phone-Smart es que se refieran a “Storage” con la misma palabra que usa el cliente eso permite tener una conversación mas fluida y a la vez entendernos mejor con nuestros clientes. Así que si usted necesita información acerca de “Storage” y no sabe que palabra usar en español, llámenos que aquí en Phone-Smart nosotros sabemos entender a todos nuestros clientes.

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Let’s take a look at what prospects need, because you should understand that purchasing from you now is a good thing, whether the prospect expresses some hesitation or not. What about that person who needs a dress on Saturday? If it’s Monday, she needs to buy the dress now because she will need to make sure she can get the right shoes and the right hose and the right accessories. If she waits until Thursday or Friday to buy that dress, what if it doesn’t fit quite right? Oh, my gosh! She’s in trouble. So she needs to get the dress now so that she can get everything else in place by Saturday. If you let her walk out of the store without a dress, you are doing her a disservice. She will be stressed out the rest of the week worrying about the dress. And when she comes back, if she comes back, to your store on Thursday, maybe you will be sold out of her size or her color. Now you have set her up for a disaster. If you are in the fashion business, it is your job and your mission to prevent your customers and potential customers from experiencing a fashion disaster.

I am not joking around. It is your job to prevent the fashion crisis. If you see every prospect walking into your dress shop as a person you can save from a fashion melt-down, you will be sure to give each customer an excellent fashion solution in plenty of time for whatever event is coming up. Every time you let a prospect walk out without a good fashion solution in her shopping bag, you have thrown someone to the fashion wolves to be mercilessly ravaged. Why would you do that to someone?

If someone is looking to rent a storage unit from your self storage place and it’s your busy season, the prospect needs to rent from you now because you don’t know what you’re going to have available tomorrow. Whatever you’re selling, you need to find a way to build some urgency for that person. Limited availability, limited time, limited opportunity – these are things that help people decide, “I’m going to buy now.” If they think it’s urgent, they will think they need to do something about the situation now. They need a little nudge to say yes to the deal.

How do you, then, close the deal? Well, let’s talk a little bit about the concept of closing. I don’t know if you use the term the same way I would use the term in selling. Closing a call, closing a deal, is not saying, “Thanks for coming by; hope you buy from us.” That’s not closing. Closing is getting the signature on the deal – on the contract. Getting the check, getting the payment: that is closing the deal.

Now some people say that using the word Close sounds kind of harsh. It sounds like someone might get hurt. I’ve heard it said that you should think about making a sale as if you were opening up a new friendship, opening a new account or starting a new business relationship. This is a nice way of looking at it.

I still like the word Close, because it is the point where one relationship ends and another begins. This person is no longer your prospect after The Close. She is now your customer or your client. So you are closing an old chapter in your relationship. You are no longer the potential vendor. You are now the vendor/consultant/expert of choice. You are also closing the conversation. There is no longer any need to discuss the black dress for Saturday night. Everything has been decided. You can now close the conversation and complete the transaction. The customer can close her internal discussion of the purchase. There is no longer any need to fret about Saturday. The outfit has been decided. All is well. It is time to devote thought and energy to something else.

So, how do you close? Well, you have to ask questions that lead you to the “big yes.” The “big yes” is, “Yes, I’ll take this dress,” “Yes, I’ll rent that 10-by-10 storage unit,” “Yes, I’ll buy that puppy.” That’s the “big yes” you’re leading to. Your discovery questions and your agreements help you get to “yes” because every time someone agrees with you on a small topic, on a minor issue, on a simple concern, they’re building to the “big yes.” Each time you and the prospect agree on something, there are fewer things that will get in the way of their pending decision to buy now.

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How many times have you gone into a store, and the retail person on the other end of the counter looked at you with a bored or even annoyed look and said, “Hello,” and that was it? How much fun was that? How many times have you made a phone call to a business, and it was clear to you that you interrupted the person from whatever they were doing, and you got a frown, a gruff or even a grump? How fun was that? No fun at all! What was your buying mood at that point? Close to zero, right. Let’s not do that! Smile. Say hello. Use your name if you want; don’t use your name if you don’t want to. It doesn’t matter. The whole point of the introduction is to share a smile with people immediately during their first seconds of being in your space.

A good smile breaks the ice, releases the tension and tells your prospects that you are a real person who values their time and their feelings and their money. Yes, all that happens in just one good smile. I don’t care what you say in your introduction as long as it is not ridiculous or long-winded. You’ve got to say it with a smile and you have to mean the smile when you give it. An insincere smile is worse than none at all.

Now that you’ve got a good greeting that is going to give your prospects a smile and put them in the mood to listen to you, let’s get on with helping them talk themselves into buying from you. The next thing you need to do in any kind of selling is to ask some good discovery questions. Wait a minute, you say. Why are you asking questions? Shouldn’t you be selling something? No! You can’t sell people something by rattling at them and telling them this and that, and going on and on about stuff that probably doesn’t mean anything to them anyway. That’s not how you sell to people. That is certainly not how you help people talk themselves into buying from you. That’s how you get people to walk out of your store or even worse; that is how you get them to close off their minds to you.

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The next killer phrase is, “That’s a little more than I’m looking to spend.” The whole issue of price is like a poker game. When people tell you, “Oh, that’s a little more than I’m looking to spend,” they’re looking to see if they can negotiate pricing with you. They’re looking to see if you have confidence in your pricing. Because if you don’t have confidence in your pricing, then they will think you’re charging too much and ripping them off. So this whole issue of pricing is all a poker game. When someone says, “Oh, that’s a little more than I’m looking to spend,” if you go, “Oh, sorry the price is kind of high I guess,” you’re sunk! How your people answer the price concern also determines whether you rent to enough people in the could-go-either-way category.

If the people you hire are able to deal with these killer phrases on a busy day when they’re tired and short staffed, you’ve got the right people.

We can use PhoneSmart as a case study for a moment. We use the voicemail message for prospective hires with great success. When someone calls in off of a help-wanted ad, we’ve set up a greeting that tells a lot about what we do, a lot about what we’re looking for, and it invites callers to tell about themselves. When listening to the callers on the employment hot-line, we usually give them about five or ten seconds. If you can hear them smiling, if they’re having fun with it – because a lot of times, it’s embarrassing for them, then we keep listening. They don’t realize that when they call you, they’re doing an audio audition until they get the message. So you get some fun stuff. It will catch some people off guard and you can hear how well they are at recovery. If we like what we hear, we save the message and call them back to set up a telephone interview.

It is interesting that sometimes when you call the people back who sounded great on the message, they answer their phone at the house, “What?” We are quick to say, “Oops! Sorry!” and get off the phone. When you call the people back you catch them being themselves and can hear if they have good speaking skills, if they can think on their feet and if they can improvise. Those are all fantastic talents to have in a new staff person.

One of the other things that’s so important is the tendency of your people to be patient and friendly, because when it’s slow at your store, anybody could handle the customers. No problem. But when it gets busy, can your staff people maintain their composure and act in a friendly and professional way with everyone. You do experience very slow times and very busy times at your stores. We see this in our call volume reports. No one in the whole country wants to rent a storage unit for one or two hours, and then everybody in the country wants one at the same time. You get that at your store, too. You’ll sit there with your chin in your hand for a while, like the Maytag man, and then all of a sudden you’ve got five people at the counter and the phone won’t stop ringing. So how do you test to see if prospective hires can stay friendly and patient in a pinch like this?

One of the tests that we’ve come up with to test for composure and patience is what we call “The Break Room Test.” When someone comes in for a live interview, we sit them in the break room for a minute and say, “I’m sorry, the person who’s interviewing you is just running a little bit late. She’ll be right there,” and then we’ll leave the person in there for five or ten minutes. One of the staff people will walk through and just in passing say, “Hello,” and if the interview doesn’t respond in a friendly way, that’s a short interview. If the person in the break room starts getting impatient and annoyed, that’s a short interview. We leave some reading materials about our company and about storage in the break room. If the person being tested leafs through the material, then we feel good about their curiosity and their ability to use down time to learn something they might need. I can’t tell you how many problems we’ve saved ourselves from a bad hire by doing this. You might agree a lot of people interview very well, and then after you’ve had them on staff for a couple of weeks, you think it’s a different person or sometimes even their evil twin working for you. So this is a way that you can find people that are patient and friendly even in a pinch.

Put yourself in your candidate’s position. Job interviews stink! They’re terrible to go to because you never know what the people doing the hiring are looking for. You are worried if they like you or don’t like you. It’s a great pressurized situation to see if people can maintain their friendliness and patience under stress.

In the positions you fill and the positions we fill, people have to use computers and phones. So we run them through a little test to make sure they can talk, type, and read at the same time. You might think that everyone can do basic keyboarding, manage basic software and use a piece of telephone equipment. But not everyone can. You need to know that you have people at the store than can run your management software and can fix the gate interface when it’s down and know how to roll up a door without jamming it. So you have some things you need to test for, too.

Of course, you have to test for selling skills. Hopefully you have recognized some good selling and questioning skills in the phone interview. But you need to know the prospective hire can sell your products and services. The oldest, silliest, but still effective way of testing someone’s selling skills is to grab the thing nearest to you and ask them to sell it to you. “Okay, why don’t you just sell me this box of Tic Tacs.” Or “How would you sell me this pen?” You put people in a terribly uncomfortable spot, and you’ll see how they sell under pressure. What you’ll find is there are a lot of people that have some great natural selling skills, and they’ll start asking you questions and trying to determine how best to approach you. When they do that, you’ve got somebody you can work with. And then there are some people who have backward selling skills who think what they have to do to sell to you is to hit you over the head with what ever they are selling. “These are great Tic Tacs. You need them. You should buy them.” That’s probably not the approach you want. These are just a few of the many great hoops you can make people jump through.

And, of course, seeing is believing. I definitely recommend if you’re not doing it now, hire people on a probationary period. Use them on a temporary project. Hire them on a test basis. See what happens. Give them a chance to get a feel for your organization, because being in the storage business is not for everyone. Being a retail salesperson is not for everyone. Storage managers have to wear a lot of hats. They’ve got to be good at a lot of things. They’ve got to be good at selling, they’ve got to be good at collecting, they’ve got to be good at operating the facility, and they’ve got to be good at cleaning. There are a lot of things they’ve got to be good at. Just because someone’s good at one or two things doesn’t mean they’re good at enough of them that you want to keep them on staff. So set a temporary assignment with them or start them part-time.

Give them increasing responsibility as they pass the day to day tests. Bring them on slowly so you don’t overwhelm them in the beginning, because no matter what your new position is, it’s overwhelming in the beginning. Usually at the end of the first week, the people are in a fog, and you need to give them a day or two to settle down from that. Starting slow also allows you to avoid committing to something that you’re going to need to wiggle out of later. It is better to have a set probationary period, so if the hire does no

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Learning to close a sale is also key to building your selling culture. Use your alternate-choice close. Are you familiar with the alternate-choice close as a standard selling technique? You actually know it. You use it all of the time, or you have it used on you all of the time. You walk into a store to look for an item, and the sales clerk says, “Did you want that in red or green?” You hear it all of the time. You go to the restaurant, “Smoking or non-smoking?” Your kids want to go to the movies; they say, “Hey, Dad, let’s go to the movies. They’ve got a show at seven and one at nine. Which one do you want to go to?” You use it everyday, and you have it used on you every day. It’s powerful stuff. Teach it to your people and learn it and use it all of the time. Self storage has many excellent alternative choices built into it. There are climate controlled and regular units; first floor or upper floor; 5 by 10 or 10 by 10, and so on.

You should also seek out good examples of selling cultures and talk about them with your staff. Photo studios are a good example of a great selling culture. When was the last time you took your family to a photo studio to get family pictures taken? These people are great! How many times have you walked in there thinking, “Mmm, I’ll probably spend X-dollars on a package?” and how many times have you actually have walked out of there spending what you intended to spend? It’s always two or three times more, isn’t it? Always. And aren’t you happy that you did it? Were you were mad afterwards? Or if you were mad, it lasted a second or two, right? Until Grandma saw the pictures and went “Ohhhh!” Right? How do they do it? They do assumptive selling. You show up there, and they know you’re not there to look at a picture and go home; you’re there to buy pictures. So everything they do is assumptive selling.

And they’re masters of the alternate-choice close. They take several different poses, and then they show you the pictures and they say, “Of Pose A, which is your favorite picture of Pose A? Is it this picture or that picture?” You pick one, and they put it to the side. “Let’s look at Pose B, which one do you like best there, number one, two, or three?” You go, “Well, I don’t like number three? “Okay, let’s forget three. How about number one or two? Number two looks good, doesn’t it?” “Yes, it does.” “Okay, great!” Now you’ve got another one. And they go through every pose until they’ve alternate-choice closed you into a seven-page package. You can’t say no. Are you going to say, “No, I don’t want gorgeous pictures of my lovely children!” You can’t say it…well, some people could, but it’s very hard to say that. Especially when they’re sitting right next to you listening to you. These people in the photo studio business are masters of a selling culture.

And then they’ve got 17 different payment options. So if you try to get out of it by saying, “Well, you know, I don’t have that much with me…” they’ll say, “Oh, well, no problem!” because you can do this option, this option, or the other option. They’re masters of it.

Look at other businesses that you deal with that are masters of the selling culture, and then think about how well you master it at your store. Are you really mastering it, or are you just kind of skating? Take a look and see what you think.

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One rule might be to get up from the desk and come around the counter to greet people when they come in to your store. One rule might be if you’ve got two people at the counter you’re dealing with and the phone rings, you let it right to PhoneSmart instead of trying to talk on the phone and in person at the same time. That was a quick plug for PhoneSmart. Sorry about that.

Another great rule, perhaps the oldest rule of selling, is “Close early and often”. If someone calls you up and says, “Do you have any storage units?”, do you say, “Sure! How soon would you like to move in with us?” If you do, that is great! If the first words out of your mouth are a closing question, you are fantastic.

How do you establish selling rules in your culture? Do you write them down? Do you practice them? Do you drill them? It’s not a bad idea to always give something away to bring in business. It doesn’t have to be of great value. It doesn’t cost you much to buy your low-end locks, but it does bring you some goodwill if you give those away every now and then. And sometimes it doesn’t matter what you give away. I know a storage operator who always has fresh cookies out on the counter. He has people he hasn’t rented to in years stop by to get cookies when they’re out running around town. His customers stop in the office just to have a snack. Whatever it takes for you to make your store a destination for people will help you build your business.

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If Disney tells the stories that help build our pop culture, what kind of myths and stories help build a selling culture? Let’s think about that for a minute. One of the stories I love is called the “Rule of Thirds.” There’s actually a Rule of Thirds for many different kinds of situations, because it is easy to remember three things and it is easy to draw a triangle. Here’s how our Rule of Thirds goes: One group of people is going to rent to you anyway, no matter what, as long as you don’t say something stupid or chase them off because they’ve already decided they like your place. They know someone who’s rented there. Maybe they drive by it every day and think it looks good. Whatever the reason is, they’ve already decided they’re going to rent from you; and when they come to see you or call you on the phone, what they’re really trying to find out is if they shouldn’t rent from you. In their minds they are asking themselves if their inclination to rent from you is wrong. So when you get someone in this easy third, your job is to not drive them off and to just let them rent the unit.

You have another group of people that aren’t going to rent from you anyway no matter what you do because their situation is going to change: the house doesn’t sell, the divorce doesn’t come through. The situation changes. Their Uncle Fred says, “Don’t pay for storage. I’ve got a barn you can use for free.” Something will happen to those people; you’ll lose them without any wrongdoing of your own. Your job with those people is to give them as good of an experience as you can so when it is time for them to actually need to store, they’ll think of you and contact you first so you can rent to them at some future date.

But then there is this third group of people that could go either way. They’re not quite sure what they’re doing. They’re not quite sure they’re going to store. They’re not quite sure they’re going to store with you. They’re not quite sure they like your place. They’re not quite sure they can afford your place. This group of people that can go either way are the people who help you make your money. They help you make your money, because they represent the “upside” in your promotional spending.

Anyone who is halfway friendly can rent to that easy third, but only people with sales skills and persistence and people who see themselves in a selling culture can work with that third that can go either way. If you can convert a nice share of that either-way third, those dollars go right to your bottom line. These people that you might not have rented to before you adopted a selling culture are the people who represent your increase in revenue. So keep the Rule of Thirds in mind when you’re talking to prospects. Is this person in the easy third? If so, let just move him in. Is this person in the impossible third? I’ll give you an example of an impossible third.

We actually got this phone call at our PhoneSmart call center. One of our supervisors, Dana Shields, was catching calls for our many self storage clients. She asked the fellow who called, “How soon are you going to need a storage unit?” and he said, “Well, I’m retiring in four years. I won’t need it until then, but I’m just curious what one costs.” So there’s a prepared man! He’s certainly in the impossible third, because no matter how great you are at sales and service, he is not going to retire this week just to start renting is storage unit from you.

But then you talk to all of the other people who say, “Well, I still have to shop around,” “That’s maybe a little more than I’m looking to spend,” “I’m not sure if I’m ready to do anything yet,” “I’ve got to check with my boss,” “I’ve got to check with my spouse,”. When you can rent to a large portion of these people, that’s when you make your money.

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People are quick to categorize you how they see you. You my not like that people don’t see you for who you are, but for what they think you are. You may not like to be pigeon-holed for the way you might appear or sound. But you can make this work to your benefit. Why do so many professions have a uniform? Because it tells the world clearly who is a firefighter or nurse, so the firefighter or nurse can do their jobs quickly and efficiently.

I did a simple test when I ran a Culligan Bottled Water dealership. I believed that the route drivers were invisible to people and could go where they wanted, when they wanted, without restrictions. One day I went cold-calling for new customers in a business area wearing the water delivery driver’s uniform. The very next day, I called on the same businesses in a suit and tie. No one recognized me as being the same person. Only a few said that another guy had been through the day before, but no one knew it was me.

I tested my theory further. I walked into a bank that was not our customer with a five gallon bottle on my shoulder and strolled back behind the teller’s counter and back into the break room where I was not supposed to be. No one stopped me. No one asked who I was or where I was going. I had to ask someone in the break room who I would talk to about setting them up with water service before anyone even acknowledged me.

They thought I was a member of the service culture and that I was doing something I was supposed to be doing. I was invisible. So we used this to our advantage and dressed all of our sales people in route driver uniforms and built one of the top bottled water dealerships in the entire Culligan dealership network.

How do you want your people pigeon-holed? Don’t you want your customers thinking your people are members of the selling culture? Because don’t people love to be sold to? If you go to a store and you’re looking to buy something, doesn’t it drive you crazy if the people ignore you and don’t help you and don’t help you figure out what to buy? This drives me crazy. Let’s not do that to our customers. Let’s make sure our prospective customers and our current customers see us as members of a selling culture, who are there to help them make their purchases.

What are some of the stories and myths and pieces of language we can use to build a selling culture? Well, let’s talk the language of sales. If you talk about suspects and prospects and clients and closing ratios and things of that nature, your staff starts thinking like salespeople. If you start talking like salespeople, you start thinking like salespeople.

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Help us create the next generation of self storage facility!

Call for submissions:

StorageMart announces the BUILD IT GREEN Design Challenge….

You can read the original Press Release at Self Storage Owner Press Release Sectiona at

Self Storage Owner Press Release Section

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Self Storage in Florida
4920 NW 7th St
Miami, FL
Call Olga at (305) 446-1887
Regular and Climate Controlled units
Office and Moving supplies

Total Quality Assurance Services Measures Quality Assurance

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Welcome to the PhoneSmart secret shopping blog, a peek at the secret shopping and mystery shopping industry.

Storage Concierge Self Storage in Kansas
Storage Concierge Self Storage in Kentucky
Storage Concierge Self Storage in Louisiana

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PhoneSmart Your Offsite Sales Solution
Self Storage Blog A diary of the self storage industry
Self Storage Search Engine Self Storage in Montana

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Welcome to the PhoneSmart blog and insider diary of the self-storage industry.

For more information about attending a seminar hosted by Tron Jordheim, director of PhoneSmart, click on the link below.
Inside Self Storage Expo in Reno See Tron Jordheim

PhoneSmart Your Source for Lead Generation
Property Management Blog The ins and outs of Property Management

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Self Storage Search Engine Finding Storage Faster

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PhoneSmart Your Offsite Sales Solution

Property Management Blog

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20 Winners will receive 60 days of free roll-over sales support from the PhoneSmart Call center for one property.

1 Grand Prize winner will receive… FREE

1 year of PhoneSmart’s total sales solution for one property.

Includes:

Free call center roll-over service for one year

2 free secret shopping calls per month

4 free calls to the role-play helpline each month

1 Free sales training package for Self Storage

Free Leads from PhoneSmart’s lead generation program for one year

1 Free Ad tracking/ Call recording number from PhoneSmart’s Foster Accuracy for one year

Stop by Booth number 523 and enter during the trade show hours on March 30 and 31.

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