Will A Tight Economy Break Self Storage Owners?

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Self storage owners are playing a game of chess with the economy. One thing is for certain, people have less money to spend. It may be that gas prices have eaten up all of a familys discretionary funds, or it may be that families are uneasy about the market and just not comfortable to commit to another monthly rent.
 
Still, people move and relocate, and unfortunately, lose their homes in a financial crunch. That means that houses of furniture will be packed into trucks, moved across town or across the country, downsized to a smaller home or apartment or even at risk of being abandoned.

Theres no doubt about it, a reasonably priced storage unit in a nice location will be a refuge for a frustrated mover. But the question remains. What will a downward economy mean for the self storage rental industry?

It means that it is even harder to make a reservation for a storage unit and earn the dollar of your customer. Consumers are not only a little pressed for luxury expenses, they are smarter too!

A self storage customer from fifteen years ago, when faced with the immediate need of storage, might have just walked in the door of the local facility. A self storage customer from ten years ago had a few places to choose from, so they picked up the phone and called around. Todays self storage customer will search the internet and look for a bargain, make a short list and call two or three stores. However, they will not be impressed by sub-par service or managers answering the phone a mile a minute so they can hang up.

Today, the value of a self storage customer is golden to an owner. Each prospect means the difference between profit and loss. So how do you make sure you are treating each prospect with excellent customer satisfaction and a foolproof sales strategy?

Mystery shopping services allow you, the self storage owner, the unique opportunity to hear and see and evaluate exactly how your managers care for your customers and prospective customers.

Yes, the last thing you want to hear about in an uncertain economy is spending more money. However, you will have to fight that same battle with your self storage customers in order to earn their rental agreement. If your managers are hesitant, unconfident, or do not know how to fight that battle on the front line, then how will your revenues and occupancy rate increase. For that matter, how will you even keep it maintained?

Mystery shopping services are designed to train your managers and encourage them to utilize sales techniques that will win over the hard earned dollar of your next tenant. Mystery shopping services also monitor and coach your staff about the customer satisfaction issues that may arise.

For example, if your mystery shopping services find that your manager often lets the answering machine pick up the phone, then you would have good insight into why no new tenants are signing up.

On a side note, if you are relying on the answering machine to sell your storage units, you should consider a call center based on all these same principles – you will not gain or maintain without the proper systems and team in place.

Mystery shopping services will help you develop and coach your staff into a highly effective sales team. Together, you, your staff and your mystery shopping services will ensure that self storage remains, and that your business is still standing, while other competitors who were not so wise as you lose renters and run the risk of going under.

San Antonio Storage

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