More about prices

You see, people aren’t stupid. They take a look at your storage facility, and they do the math in their heads really quickly. They figure your building costs are way less than other kinds of construction. They figure you get killed by real estate taxes. They figure your payroll is next to nothing in comparison to revenue. They quickly count up how many units they think you have and multiply that by the rent you are asking them to pay and say to themselves, “Oh, my Gosh! This place breaks even at 43 percent occupancy. Oh, geez! It is a gold mine for the owner and I’m going to get screwed.” Do you think they’re stupid? They know what they’re looking at.

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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Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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