You know for a small furry critter hamsters actually take up a lot of space and most of us have lots of things for our pets.  Let us just take an imaginary little walk through a hamster’s life. 

First they need a place to live.  We know that a little cage can work, but that is boring.  Every hamster needs the deluxe ultra climbing tubes, 6 stories of twists curves and nice balls with a window for them to lay down and take a rest when they get tired. 

Every hamster has to have bedding for there cage and to buy it a little bag at a time is not economical.  So what do we buy the 25 pound bale of woodchips.  

Then we have food and toys.  Really how many toys does a rodent need?  Actually quite a  few.  It needs a ball so we can let it out in the house.  That means we need a cat crate so the cat doesn’t think the hamster is just another cat toy.  Then we have to have the wheel for it to run on.  Have you ever noticed that hamsters only run at night when their cage is in your bedroom and they won’t run unless the wheel has a little squeak to it? 

It really is amazing how much stuff one little hamster has....

JULIE

selfstoragecomplaint  : http://www.selfstoragecomplaint.org

Some times I think I should become a Secret Shopper, listeing to storage companies tell me about their store.  I really would love to work in my PJ’s and slippers.  But I have stayed home in the past and I am no good at it.  The last time I tried to stay home I ended up volunteering 1000’s of hours.   I need the social interaction of working with bright and intelligent people. 

I have to say everyone at Phone-Smart fits that bill.  I was amazed when we did our little game how diverse our employees are.   How many countries has our staff been too?  How many languages do we speak collectively?  How many years of schooling have we had collectively?  I am sure that it would astonish most of us.  I don’t think there is a question or a problem that we can not overcome with our intelligence, our creativity, and our greatest resource YOU!  Each of you that work’s for Phone-Smart.

It is a pleasure and I always love learning from each and everyone of you in each of our encounters. 

Thank you,

JULIE

Selfstorageunitprovider  : http://www.Selfstorageunitprovider.com

Home Repairs part 2….

In the last blog I blathered on about painting my kitchen.  Now the windows in the kitchen look really bad.  So we are going to have to make a choice if we are going to replace them, fix them up or leave them alone.  We are will probably have to rent a storage unit to store our things during the process.

I am voting for replacing them.  I want awning windows that you simply turn the handles to open.  Unfortunately they are twice the cost of traditional double hung windows.  Since I am so short I really can lean across the counter and get the current windows open.  Then the other option is to simply replace the two pieces of glass that were cracked a couple years ago in the hail storm.

With the current economy do we want to spend the money or not.  Does it make sense?  This is our home and we don't have any intention of moving so it would be a long term investment.  

As with all property management decisions it really does become an investment question.  Will we get the return on our investment?  Will the new windows save us money?  Will the new windows be more secure?  Will the new windows be more convenient easier to open and close?  These are all decisions that all property owners must make. 

I am leaning towards the new awning windows.  However I think I will wait a little closer to the fall to see what the economy does…

JULIE

Selfstorageshed  : http://www.Selfstorageshed.com

We started off repainting our kitchen cabinets.  It took a month to agree on a color.  We finally settled on white because no other color was ok with all of us.  Now that it is all painted we need to put some type of border or stenciling around the top to give it a little pizzazz...  But before I can do that I need to decide if I am going to get new dishes and canister set....  Painting the kitchen is getting more and more expensive all the time.  It really would have been easier if we would of put a few things in a storage unit while we were working on this. 

 Do you realize that before you can paint the cabinets you must remove all the belongings from them and scrub all the years worth of wear, tear, dirt, grease and finger prints off them.  Then you must paint them with primer with in a short period of time before they get dirty again.  So we have already went over the cabinets twice and they aren’t even painted yet.  Now that we have them clean and the primer on the paint goes over that and goes on fairly fast. 

 There is lots of new vocabulary words that go along with painting as well as some old ones.  My favorite word while painting is oops.... Then I’m headed for the rag to try to get the paint off of what it did not belong on....  It would have been much easier if I would of put all the stuff in a storage unit while I was painting...  Next time.

 JULIE

Selfstorageroom : http://www.Selfstorageroom.com

I am getting ready to help facilitate an all day marketing workshop for a group of individuals that represent non-profits in our community as part of an 11 part series on Organizational Development that will be held up at KOPN, 89.5fm a community radio station here in Columbia, Missouri.  My radio was broken but I was able to get a new one just in time, sometimes radios seem like worthless boxes!

In our workshop one of the first thing we need to do is define, “What is Marketing?”

 Some of the ideas that we have is to compare Marketing, Selling and Promotions.  Are they different or are they all zebras with different colored strips.  I have talked on my profile page before about a book called the 10 minute marketer which is all about the concept of community marketing.  In that book it really says that every aspect of your business is marketing – from your property management plans to your employee Christmas party.  It is all marketing! 

If everything is marketing it will be challenging to come up with just a one day workshop on what a group needs to know about marketing.  If you would like to come to the workshop there is still space available.  To find out more about it and about the main facilitator you can go to the KOPN website and learn more. 

 It will be a great day!  I hope you consider joining me...

Selfstoragecomparisons  : http://www.Selfstoragecomparisons.com

I have a confession to make.  I am an information junkie.  I don't care what type of information it is, I am interested. 

 I spent the last Saturday learning about building community partnerships.  I recently finished two books by Dr. Weiss on the economy.  I also am re-reading the "10 minute marketer" an easy little read about neighborhood marketing.  I almost need more storage space in my head! 

In my information gathering I have learned a couple interesting tools that I would like to share.  Our internal customers are the most important resource that a business or an organization has.  I am convinced that Phone-Smart has a great group of internal customers.  So the challenge is how to help them improve their efficiency and their "like" for the company so that they also become our best marketers.   In the 10 minute marketer it talks about the value of doing anonymous third party surveys to learn information about your organization.  Questions can include, What do you like best?  What is the worse part about working here?  Also asking the questions how many people have you suggested to call about a open position in the past year?  This would be a great thing to know.  If our internal 'customers' are not marketing us to their friends, neighbors and acquaintances, then we have some in house marketing work to do. 

 In the workshop I attended on Saturday.  There was this great tool that I was introduced to called Consensus Domain.  I think it has a lot of value and many uses.  If anyone is interested in chatting about Consensus Domains or any other piece of information stop by and see me.  I am an information junkie and love the ability to learn more.

 JULIE

Selfstoragecomparisons  : http://www.Selfstoragecomparison.net

I am reading my way through a book called "10 Minute Marketing" and one of the chapter headings was a Plumber's Bill. 

Plumber's Bill:

Wear and Tear on the hammer           $      0.25

Knowledge of where to hit the pipe    $  250.00

It just made me think about what we do at PhoneSmart.

 PhoneSmart bill:

Wear and Tear on telephones

Knowledge needed to get the caller into the store

So think of yourself as a Self Storage Facility plumber, you are here to un-plug the callers who are stuck in indecision and get them into the store.  So we can continue to get tenents into the store for all of our customers.

Julie

Self-Storage-Lockers : http://www.Self-storage-lockers.com

So what is Bike, Walk Wheel Week and why would I be discussing it on my Self Storage Blog?  According to the City of Columiba website, "Bike, Walk and Wheel Week is a weeklong program of events designed to encourage all Columbians to use active modes of transportation to get to work, school or wherever they need to go around town." 

So your thinking what does that have to do with Self Storage.  As I took my 20 minute bike ride to work this morning down the beautiful Bear Creek Trail I was thinking about how my ride to work was benefiting me and my job.   Here are my conclusions:

1) Riding my bike to work improves my health so I am absent less days.

2) I am also more awake and alert when I get to work improving my performance

3) Research has shown that exercise lowers the level or stress, so I am better able to handle the emotional ups and downs of my job.

4) When I ride my bike - it means that one less parking space is needed.  Which lowers the cost of asphalt maintenance and land required just to park our cars while we are at work.

5) Also riding my bike supports StorageMarts Build it Green Challenge by providing an opportunity to talk about the value of living and building in an eco friendly lifestyle. 

If anyone would like to ride to work with me,  Let me know I would love to start a trend!

JULIE

Selfstoragebins  : http://www.Selfstoragebin.com

  As you may know I am reading the book, "Made to Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath.  I just want to share this quote with everyone.

If a message can not be used to make predictions or decisions,

it is without value,

no matter how accurate or comprehensive it is.

If we take this into account when we are talking to potential tenants in the self storage industry we need to make sure that EVERY message that we provide to the customer helps them make the decision that we are the best place for them to store their belongings....

JULIE

Selfstorageclip  : http://www.Selfstorageclip.com

I came into work this morning, and surprise, surprise someone had cleaned out the work refrigerator!  Thank you, Thank you whoever did it. 

I clean refrigerator made me think about spring cleaning and de-cluttering.  It is time to get those rarely used items out of the way.  One great way to do that is to put them into a self-storage unit.   We all work in the industry and we know the value of having a place for our belongings.  So as the spring cleaning bug also hits our customers lets help them get the self storage units they need so they can clean up and let a little spring into their spaces...

Happy Spring.

JULIE

Selfstoragecomparisons  : http://www.Selfstoragecomparisons.com

I am currently reading a book that Tron recommended called, “Made to Stick” by Chip and Dan Heath.  I am only a couple chapters into it but I thought I would share a couple things that jumped right out at me.

The book describes ideas that are sticky are memorable.  Memorable ideas all share these 5 characteristics; 1) Simplicity 2) Unexpectedness 3) Concreteness, 4) Credibility and 5) Emotion.   So how do we in the self storage industry make it sticky? 

Fortunately the Self Storage industry has a couple sticky features built into it.  The first principle of a sticky idea is Simplicity.  The whole concept of Self Storage is simple.  So it is important that as industry insiders we remember this and keep it simple.  Many times because of what we know about the industry as a whole and what we know about property management, we know that the industry is not as simple as a place to store belongings.  However that is the key to keeping it memorable for the public in our marketing plans…

The other piece that the self storage industry has going for it is Concreteness.  The self storage industry has the ability to describe what we do in very tangible language exactly how we serve our customers.  For example we can say just visualize your self driving up to this strong and secure electronic gate.  You look around and the property is clean and well maintained you see video surveillance cameras watching over the property.  You know because you can see these features that you and your belongings are going to be safe while here at our Self Storage Facility. 

Since two of the 5 features of a sticky idea seem to be ripe for the picking.  I will have to read the rest of the book to see how do we talk about the industry in Unexpected ways with credibility and emotions…   

Selfstoragecomparisons  : http://www.Selfstoragecomparisons.net

Here are some helpful hints for putting your garden hoes in self storage.  Are you moving and the realtor says that the garage has to be cleaned out or maybe it is time to put the car in the garage for winter and move those garden hoes into self storage for the winter. 

What ever the scenario there are some helpful tips for keeping your garden hoes sharp and well maintained while in self storage. 

self storage tip number one, be sure that your grub hoe, mattock and pick axe are all clean of dirt and dry.  Use your sharpening file to put that nice clean, edge to your mattock and garden hoes and then oil it before putting in self storage.

Tip number two for self storage of your garden hoes put 2-3 gallons of sand in your five gallon buckets.  Then submerge your metal heads of your garden hoes in the sand in the self storage unit to protect them from the air.    This will keep them from rusting.  It will also hold them upright and keep them contained within your self storage unit. 

Tip number three, since your mattock and pick axe will not fit into a five gallon bucket we recommend that you place tools with a big head in a bag with sand. That you tape to the handle to keep the air from your metal heads. 

Tip number four; be sure to oil, with linseed oil your entire collection of wooden tool handles prior to placing in self storage.  This protects handles from chipping, cracking and splintering with the changes of humidity. 

Happy storing and happy gardening!

Self-storage-search-engine  : http://www.Self-storage-search-engine.com

 March 27, 2008

I am at the end of a two week training class with brand new Phone Smart Reps.  It is always a pleasure to see them make their way into the call center.  Tonight they will each be taking their first call.

So how do we get our Reps ready to serve our storage facility customers? 

We teach them about sales, the storage companies we serve and the industry.  We are very proud to be a sales force and not just an answering service for all of customers rather they have traditional storage units, climate controlled storage units, boat storage, rv storage or wine storage.  We work hard to get reservations and tenants into the storage facility we are answering the call for. 

Below are the Basic 5 agreements that every Phone Smart Rep uses on every call while on the call center floor. 

1. Is our location convenient for you?
2. How soon will you be needing storage?
3. Do you know what size unit you will be needing or can I help you narrow that down?
4. Security – Amenities of the location and their benefits, how does that sound so far?
5. The price is ONLY $ XX!   I can lock that price in right now, your Name?

Good luck to the new reps as well as a great chance for our mentor reps and long time pros to do a self evaluation that they are using these 5 agreements on every call.   Building agreements through out your call makes closing the sale, oh so sweet! 

Carstorageunits : http://www.Carstorageunits.com

Julie’s Occasional Training Blog 

March 11, 2008

Topic: Handling Complaints

Most of the time we are focused on renting units at our local self storage facility, we have procedures and guidelines to help us determine the size of the self storage unit that an individual would want.  We also have specific questions we always ask while helping a new tenant find self storage unit that is best for there needs and budget.  However we do not have these same procedures for handling complaints.

Complaints in the self storage industry can be as varied as the customers who rent from us, but some of them seem to be dominate the complaint calls that we field. 

1)      I can’t get in the gate.  It always seems to be broken.

2)      I didn’t know there would be a late charge.

3)      The person at the facility was rude to me.

Here are some samples of how you can handle these complaints…

I know how you feel mechanical breakdowns are frustrating.  I have felt that way many times when stuff I have does not work.  What many of our customers have found with our gate is that they need to really push that number 3 key for it to register.  It is just a little sticky.  If being very deliberate in entering your pass code doesn’t work.  Let me know and one of our staff can watch you go through the process to see if they can give you any tips…

I know that you feel that the charge is extreme.  Other customers have felt surprised about the late charge as well.  But what they have found is that putting there unit rent on an auto-deduct plan keeps them from having late charges.  Also it keeps them from having to worry about when that bill is due…

I can relate to how you feel about staff being rude, I’ve often felt that same way.  I have found that discussing this with another staff member often gets your concerns answered and taken care of.  I sincerely apologize if the other staff member did not hear your concern and did not take it seriously and came off sounding rude.  Please tell me your information and I will do my best to help you out.  If I am unable to help you, I will get your information to the person who is able to help… 

Using the feel, felt found response is a powerful tool.  Practice using it for your complaints and concerns that you have to overcome…

Boat Storage : http://www.Boatstorageunits.com