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In our call center training we learn to practice the rule of thirds. We know that a certain law of averages applies to sales and to our callers. The 1st third is the group that is going to buy from you and no power on earth will stop them unless you just refuse to take their reservation. (If you refuse they might possibly call back and reserve with someone else). The 2nd Third is the group that is NOT going to reserve with you no matter what you offer. They are generally just curious about storage and perhaps are having a slow football evening they have to do something to pass the time .What would be more fun than calling with multiple questions abouit self-storage? The 3rd third is the group that will reserve but you will have to sell the store and get all five agreements. They are not going to fall in your lap and are waiting to be led to the decision. This rule of thirds, much like the Bell curve can be applied to other life situations.

One weekend my son and I were on an outing with friends and their children. The children played as the adults watched and chatted. Soon lunchtime arrived, and we sought an agreement on the meal. There was a lengthy debate and although we decided to eat in the park we then also needed to decide what to eat. Two of the adults chose one restaurant (we will label this group the 1st third), they wanted to get along and were willing to compromise to get along. The other adult chose another restaurant (we will label this person as the 2nd group of thirds). That person was determined not to budge on his choice. Then there were the children. We will call them the 3rd group. They had a unanimous agreement different from the two other choices. The 2 adults outvoted the one but we had to sell the children on accepting our choice that we wanted. We asked for agreements.“What do you want?” “How soon do you want it?” The children were a much harder sell than most of our self-storage callers. We had to really work to get their business.

With self- storage and the situation just related, everything starts with need. Each caller is seeking information about storage and throughout the call we sort him or her to the thirds. Sometimes we manage to shift them from one of the thirds to one more favorable to our clients and to us. As with our task of leading the children to an agreement for lunch our task is to lead the caller to make the desired decision.