» Sales

Here in the world today, no one has the cure to the common cold. Now, some would say if you take different medicine the way it was prescribed on the label you will get better. On the other hand, you may have some relative that believes in their home remedy that if you hop up and down on one foot, flap one arm like a chicken, while using the other hand to feed yourself egg yolks, you will instantly be cured. While the second option is fun, most people will just try to take some medicine or just try to let their immune system do the job it is supposed to do.

Just like the common cold, there is no cure or way to ensure that your company will be around in the decades to come. To most readers, this might sound like an extremely harsh thing to say, but it is reality. No one business is guaranteed to be in business in the future. For this reason, many companies are racking their brains trying to figure out how they can stay around in their community.

You will see some people do all sorts of different ideas or schemes in order to keep their business out of the red. Some people have huge sales every week, where they put out balloons all over their building. There have been companies that send out flyers or go door to door to get people through the door of their business. No matter what idea they come up with, they still will have issues if they can not fix the internal workings of their sales staff. Having an effective team of individuals taking care of the clients and their businesses will dramatically affect your bottom line. To most people that is not a secret, but some companies are learning the hard way and are being bought out by larger companies that get it.

Most of these successful companies get the idea turn to a mystery shopping agency that can help provide some quality feedback. The thought around a mystery shopping agency is to evaluate your business and through either a report or face to face contact, give you what they found. Let us look closer.

Just think how it would be to have a company that you partner with that can help you enhance the performance and profitability of the companies the work for in a specific, measurable and intense way. There are many agencies out there but not all the ones guarantee their work or your money back. Not all the companies will give them a confident recommendation to use their services. There is a mystery shopping agency that can provide proof of the previous sentences to you and more.

When looking for a mystery shopping agency , you have your work cut out for you. As stated above there are many companies that state what they do, you just need to verify it. There will be fees associated with the different services they provide as well, so you have to see if those services fit in your budget. Sometimes, depending on the current situation of your company, you might have to decide whether or not you need to pay more to get an instant result.

No matter what mystery shopping agency you find, there is one important part that you must follow in order be successful. Now, as far out as this may seem, here it is. The information that you get from the mystery shopping agency , in order to make it worth your time and money, should be used it to make a difference in your everyday business life. When you get information from them, it can not just sit on your hard drive or in a file folder never to be seen again. Your associates need to see how they are doing and it is a great performance management tool for your business. You could sink or swim based on what your clients hear about the service you are providing for them. Most people would like to have the method to improve their business. Having a mystery shopping agency on your side can make a dramatic improvement to your business if you allow it to what is meant to do.

Columbia RV Storage

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Sales industries, while seeing some growth over the last quarter, are uneasy about the tight pocketbooks of most consumers. Consumer spending is being cut because families do not have extra money to go out to eat, buy new clothes, make those renovations to the house or go on vacation. Their extra money is going into the gas tank and maybe paying loans with raised interest.

It has become more important than ever for a sales based business to capture every opportunity. But does a business manager or owner have to just blindly trust that all his associates are doing their part to make every customer count? No, he can use secret shopping services to give him a true, unbiased opinion of what sales opportunities are being lost.

Keep in mind that the most effective secret shopping services go beyond reporting if the associate said hello within 10 seconds or if they had their name tag on. All those practices can be controlled without needing an outside expert to tell you so.

Secret shopping services should be sales focused and this is where the quality control and shopping industry must go if they want to stay in business with businesses who are pressured to cut spending. Shopping services have to report on habits and techniques that are working to the advantage of a sale and also critique those which are not. That is what makes successful secret shopping services .

Consider this. You are the manager of an Ultimate Buy Electronic store. There may be 5 to 10 associates on the sales floor at any given time. You cannot possibly listen to all of them, all of the time. You have not been meeting your budget goals and you see customers walking out of the store without a purchase in hand.

The latest shopping service report showed that Jane had her shirt tucked in and greeted the customer within just a few seconds of being in the home theater department. The shopper report shows a check mark in the field indicating that Jane asked if the customer needed any help. The report also shows that the shopper asked about the comparison of two TVs and Jane told her the difference.

What are missing from that report are the sales details. Did Jane genuinely offer to help the customer or did it seem she only asked out of obligation for her job. Did Jane offer to demonstrate the two TVs to the customer and find out what brought them in to look at TVs. Did Jane use any closing questions or also recommend accessory products or the extended warranty? Did Jane connect with the customer and close the sale?

We sales managers have been conditioned to look at reports from our secret shopping services for a few quick seconds and then hand them over to our associates. Do we realize that we are missing pieces of the puzzle? We have the framework, but we can not see the whole picture without knowing the sales specific details of our customers experiences.

The quality control and shopping industry does have a few providers who offer these top notch sales shops. Will they become the last man standing as other businesses realize they are paying for less than quality shops or will we sales managers continue to look at ineffective reports and be none the wiser?

Odenton Furniture Storage

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Storage Concierge Self Storage in Illinois
Storage Concierge Self Storage in Kansas
Storage Concierge Self Storage in Kentucky

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Ronald Smith PhoneSmart call center rep knows how to offer choices to his callers.

Welcome to our blog. Your peek into the secret shopping industry.

Self Storage Blog A diary of the self storage industry
Property Management Blog The ins and outs of property management

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By Liz Langsteiner, A.K.A. Liz Taylor bilingual call center representative / Key Account Representative offers insight on the purpose of the PhoneSmart call center.

Welcome to the secret shopping blog, your peek into the mystery shopping world.

Our main objective in the call center is to take the caller off the market and get them to cross “storage unit” off the to do list. Every now and then you get a gimmie, but most of the time it takes patience, industry knowledge, building rapport and sales expertise to take the caller off the market.
Every morning Monday – Friday I log in at 6:30am. I choose the morning shift because I find the early morning callers mean business. Early birds are ready to give up their credit card and reserve a storage unit. On most days I usually have minimum of 1 credit card reservation and sometimes 2 by 7:30am.
Let me share with you my “Deal or No Deal” experience. IF you can get a laugh or giggle from your caller you are half way to getting a reservation. One morning last week I took a call from one of our East coast stores. During the call we agreed on location, size and time frame. I gave the price and noticed on my screen a super special ½ off the first 3 months. I decided to wait and offer the special at a perfect moment. The caller seemed to be in a hurry so I went for the close and gathered all the pertinent information. When I asked for the credit card I heard those dreaded words well I am not sure I want to do that now. I could feel the caller slipping away so I said “here is the deal you get ½ off of the first 3 months, you rent month to month with no deposits, pay a small admin fee of only $12.00 bucks and provide a lock.” DEAL or NO DEAL The caller burst into laughter and said, “DEAL”. The rest is history.

Self Storage Blog A diary of the self storage industry
Property Management Blog The ins and outs of property management

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Robin Turner, Phone Smart call center manager speaks out about telephone greetings

Welcome to the Phone Smart call center blog. We give an inside view of the secret shopping industry.

PhoneSmart Your Source for Lead Generation
Self Storage Blog A diary of the self storage industry
Property Management Blog The ins and outs of property management

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Angela Perry Phone Smart Trainer illustrates the rule of thirds

Welcome to the Phone Smart blog and inside view of the self-storage industry

1 out of 3, 33.33% or the rule of thirds

Self Storage Blog A diary of the self storage industry

Property Management Blog The ins and outs of property management

PhoneSmart Your Source for Lead Generation

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“Wait a minute!”

You know you’ve reached a good, solid rep who truly knows what they’re doing when there aren’t any unanswered questions or at least there is a good response for an unanswered question. If you ask a question, and the rep can’t answer you, then he should include 3 components in the response to you.

 Honesty! It’s always the best policy. If he doesn’t know then he needs to tell you so.
 Sincerity! You shouldn’t have to guess at what the next step is.
 Urgency! Confirm that there will be an answer.

Something like… “Well, I’m not sure but I can certainly find out for you and give you a call back shortly to let you know”.

It still doesn’t cease to amaze me… the things that come out of some people’s mouths. They can have a great attitude, be polite and professional and then you get something that makes you say “Wait a minute”!

Example:
Just the other day I called the toll free customer service number of a company that I deal with. Although the man I talked to could not answer my question with a solution or even a hint to what might have happened, he didn’t have to lie. I’m sure you’ve caught someone in a bold faced lie before and it just makes you scratch your head and wonder what ever possessed them to do that.

In this case, when I spoke to this rep at a call center for a company in which I deal with, he could not answer my question with a solution or even a hint or possibility of a solution. So I asked to speak with the manager to see if they could give me a clue as to what happened and possibly straighten it out that day as it was an urgent situation..

He said “Sure, please hold one moment while I get the manager”. The next man who got on the phone had the same accent, just as pleasant, but a little more enthusiastic then the first man I spoke to. He basically gave me the same response. “O.K. wait a minute”, I thought. (He’s the manager, giving me the exact same response, same accent with an extremely similar inflection and tone in his voice as the first guy)

I jumped in and said… “Wait a minute!!! You’re the same guy I just spoke to the first time, aren’t you!?” “Yes”, he replied… Some people don’t cease to amaze me.

O.K., overlooking the bold faced lie, I voluntarily started to give him information that I thought would be of help in order to track down the information and the solution that I needed. I wasn’t in the mood for games. While doing so, he put me on hold… again. While on hold, I called the company that I dealt with here in town, who deals with them but are not affiliated with them. If there’s a problem with the service/product, you’re supposed to contact the toll free number that I called.

But when that wasn’t sufficient for me, I called the place in town and explained the situation. They immediately included the 3 components… “I’m not sure what happened, but just come down here and we’ll go ahead and take care of you, today, o.k.!”
And they did exactly that. They had it figured out in 10 minutes! I never did stay on hold. Instead I went right to the other company.
Are you losing your customers’ trust in you?

Robin

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Hiring a sales savvy staff

By Tron Jordheim

Most of us would agree that it is better to have a sales savvy staff than not. Our business requires some intense customer interaction. The person at the front desk wearing your logo shirt is the reason people choose to store with you or with your competitor. When a tenant has a problem, it is your staff person’s ability to handle the problem that makes the difference.

So how do you attract sales savvy people? You have to build the culture first. A lot of lip service is paid to the whole idea of a company culture. The fact is though that every workplace has its own feel and its own unwritten rules. This is your culture. A culture revolves around language, shared stories and myths, legends of heroes, rituals and all those unwritten rules. When your culture encourages selling and the development of selling skills you have created a workplace where sales savvy people are comfortable and can excel.

Start talking the language of sales. Speak of 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.

Share stories and myths about selling. 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 in one location. At the end of the day, the owner of the store went to check on the “new kid” and asked how many customers the new hire had helped in his first day. The owner was shocked and dismayed to hear that the kid had only helped one customer that day. The owner asked the kid to explain. He told how he had offered a man a fishing hook, only to find that the man had no rod, no reel and no tackle. After getting all the fishing gear picked out, the kid found that the man had no fishing boots or outdoor clothes. After helping the man find the right boots, pants, jacket and hat, the man realized he had no boat. So the kid took his customer to the boat department and helped him select a boat and an appropriate trailer. When the man mentioned he would have trouble hauling the boat with his Volkswagen, the young sales clerk took the customer to the truck department and helped him pick out a new pickup truck with not only a towing package , but also with a CD and DVD player. Finally at 4:45 in the afternoon, the customer who had been with the young salesman since 10:30 am 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 the tampons were. I took him to them and happened to say, ‘Looks like it a good weekend to go fishing’”

There are all kinds of fun stories about sales people. 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 waving back. You can tell their fondness for the salesman in the sad expression on their faces.

There are sales stories like the Rule of Thirds that says one group of potential renters will rent from you anyway, as long as you don’t chase them off, because they already like your location or they know someone who has rented from you. Your job is to not talk yourself out of this sale. Another group isn’t going to rent no matter what because their needs will change or their needs are too far in the future. If you are nice to these folks, they will remember you when it is time to rent. Then there is a large group, the third group, which could go either way. These are the people you need to use your best sales and listening skills with.

Talk about the legends of great sales feats that have happened in your business. You can talk about the time one of your staff had a record rental day. Talk bout the funny and different ways your staff has asked for the rental and gotten it. At PhoneSmart, we still talk about the day that one of our reps, Dana, reserved 7 10x 20s for one caller. We still try to beat Paula’s eight hour record of 23 credit card reservations.

You can establish rituals, like the manner in which you make notes on your call logs, the way you stand up to greet a customer walking through your front 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 in your selling routine and allow some of these to become your rituals.

Then there are the unwritten rules. The rule that you end no rental inquiry without asking which day the person would like to move in; the rule that says, no eating at the front counter; the rule that says look everyone in the eye when you greet them. You probably have many rules that work in selling your facility to new tenants and re-selling your facility to current tenants. Let everyone know what the rules are so they can use them.

Now that you have created a selling culture, go about attracting people who are sales savvy. Start with some qualifying hoops. We hire telesales reps at PhoneSmart. The first hoop a potential new hire jumps through is the recorded audition. When someone calls the “Employment hotline” they are invited to talk about themselves and their experience on a voicemail message. We listen to the messages and only call back the people who sound great on the phone, use visuals in their story and sell themselves well. You can do the same thing. Many people call your stores before they come to see it. Your telephone impression is essential to getting the rental. Why not hire only people who sound great on the phone?

How do you get people to inquire about your positions? What do you call your positions? Do you look for managers, sales assistants, marketing reps, retail sale people? Think this issue before advertising or promoting an opening. You will generally get what you ask for in an ad.

Why not secret shop any potential new hires? Do a telephone interview with them if they pass your recorded audition. If you like how the person deals with you on the phone and sells himself on the phone, find out where he is currently employed. Wait a day and call his place of work and secret shop the person. Pretend to be a prospective or current customer of that business and see how you are treated. This will tell you a lot. Did your potential hire ask for your business, try to fix your problem, attempt to cross-sell or up-sell?

When you call your potential hire in for a personal interview, create a test that will weed out the “wrong” people for the job. It can be frustrating when a person interviews very well and then turns out to be totally wrong for the position. I hired someone for a PhoneSmart position with a good resume and appropriate work history who interviewed very well. As soon as the other team members found out I hired this person, I had several of them ask me if I was nuts. Apparently this person had been rude and even somewhat hostile to three or four people while waiting in the break room for me to start the interview. So now we do “The break room test “. We intentionally leave a person waiting for the interview in the break room for five or ten minutes. We have a team member pass through and say “hello” on the way through to see the person’s reaction. Then another team member comes in and apologizes that the interviewer will be right there and says sorry about the wait. If the person does not have a natural, friendly reply for the person saying hello, and if the person is not cordial and patient when asked to wait a little longer, that is a short interview and a “No hire”. I honestly believe that this break room test has almost entirely eliminated unsuitable people and has cut our turnover in initial trainees dramatically. Create your own version of this “Break room test”. You will be very pleased with the result.

Another great t

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Sometimes sale people are the best to sell to, because if you are pretty good, they like you and buy from you. Sometimes sales people are the worst to sell to, because if your approach stinks, they will shut you down.

I was in my front yard one afternoon this weekend. I was messing around and doing a little yard work. My kids were playing in the yard and enjoying themselves. A white van rolled slowly up our cul-de-sac. My first instinct whenever someone I don’t recognize rolls up our circle like that is to let my Rottweiler out of the back yard. I could see from the decals on the van that it was a direct sales meat supply company. I imagine that the direct sales meat suppliers can build up some pretty nice route sales.

The driver rolled down his window and yelled out to me. “Hey do you eat steaks?” I said “No”. He yelled back, “You don’t?” I said “No”. He replied, “How about seafood or fish?” I said, NO”. He yelled back, “Well I know you aren’t a vegetarian, are you?” I replied, “I have no interest in talking to you today.” He said “O.k.” and rolled out the way he came in.

My daughter said to me, “Daddy, why didn’t you tell him you are a vegetarian?” A sensible question coming from a kid.

I explained to her that it was not his business in the first place and that if he was too lazy a sales person to even get out of the van and have good manners about introducing himself, I didn’t need to tell him anything. When sales people start their process in a flippant and impolite manner, they cannot expect to get anything but rejection.

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