Bob, DJ and I began our Spanish 1 class last Tuesday. We meet for 2 hours every Tuesday, for four weeks. Then there's a break and Spanish 2 begins. I am very excited to learn Spanish and feel that it is necessary for the growth of not only myself, but for our call center, sales training and secret shopping business.

I know the subject of language can sometimes be one of those political things no one wants to talk about, but while other people are sitting around arguing about what language everyone should speak, I figure, why not jump ahead of them and learn how to communicate in other languages. So I am beginning with Spanish, which couldn't come at a better time.

Lucia, Tron and I are going to Orlando at the end of March and we'll be able to meet many prospects from South America and Mexico. Hopefully I will be able to talk with them, at least a little bit and Lucia can pick up where my Spanish stops. 

The whole experience makes me feel very much like how my 3 year old must feel. I know what I want to say, but I don't know exactly how to conjugate each verb. Lucia is helping me a lot, she is very patient. (I know I must say the silliest stuff sometimes)

I'd encourage our other PhoneSmart employees to pick up a few Spanish phrases too. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to greet one another and even offer some assistance to our clients/ customers?!

Brought to you by: Sarah -- TQA Director

Self storage shed  : http://www.Selfstorageshed.com

Our self storage call center officially took a reservation for the first college student of the year! We, along with self storage everywhere, are on the brink of the busiest time of the year.

 For years, the PhoneSmart call center has been reserving units for college students, parents, relocating families, military personnel, businesses - anyone and everyone who needs a place to safely keep their belongings. What that means to self storage business owners is that hiring our offsite sales is like hiring years of experience. Now is the time to jump ahead of the competition and put us to work for you.

 Speaking of competition, have you heard how they sound on the phone lately? I recently completed some Mystery Shops for an East coast self storage business. In addition to their own shops, we evaluated two of their competitors. One did very poorly and the other scored higher than the facility's own employees.

 The good news is that now this company has a clear idea of where they stand, and they have taken the right steps to improving their sales performance by beginning a Sales Training and Secret Shopping Program.

 Along with the busy season of self storage renters, we are also experiencing a busier season of prospects and new clientele. Perhaps it's because self storage has become a competitive market and supply is catching up with demand. Self storage owners have to work a little bit harder to gain a new tenant and that's where we can help.

 With an offsite sales force, sales training and secret shopping we not only capture missed phone calls, we equip your own management team to improve their sales performance.

 Brought to you by Sarah Little, TQA Director

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

While promoting our self storage call center and secret shopping services, I encountered the largest mouse I've ever seen!...

Mickey Mouse, that is!

PhoneSmart just returned from the SSA Show in Orlando.  I also checked out Miami Florida that was really cool, Miami Florida is a little more expensive than Orlando.  We are finally all settled back into the groove here in the office, and I am coveting the Florida Sunshine today, as it is dreary and raining in Missouri today. The trade show was an excellent opportunity for us to meet several new faces and put a face to the names of people we've talked to for years.

The roundtables proved especially productive! On the first day's session of roundtables, I was able to eavesdrop on several discussions as I mingled around the tables. I was impressed to see that at most tables, the presenter and the attendees were having good discussions, rather than the presenter rambling on about their own company or service.

The second day of roundtables was the day I hosted the "New Methods of Secret Shopping" topic. I found that what drew most attendees to the table was the word "NEW". By now, we have all seen or tried out a few secret shops. Maybe they have been working or maybe people are tired or stuck in a rutt about them. Everyone was very intrigued to learn about what new innovations and technology is available to the self storage industry.

Just to highlight one of key points that I had during the roundtable:

• If you already use a secret shopping service, here are some of the things you can do that cost you NO extra money, but will make your secret shops more effective
  1. Let your employees know that a training tool/ and secret shopping program is being set up. If it is a sneak attack on the, they will feel that it is just that- an attack. Letting them know that you are implementing a new program and that you stand behind it will help ward off the defensive mode we can sometimes get into
  2. Make sure your employees know what your expecations are as an owner or regional manager. Your employees should understand what they will be graded on.
  3. Let them know how the program will affect their job. Will it be consistently poor performance be grounds for termination? Will there be an incentive or bonus if they perform well? What is a passing grade? Will the secret shopping scores be part of their annual review? and so forth.
  4. Most importantly You can make your shops more effective by USING your shops. Don't just pass them out and expect the managers to do all the work on improving. Build a program around the shops in order to maximize the potential learning value.

There was much more that we discussed about the "New" innovations of secret shopping. So stay tuned to find out more...

Sarah Little, Total Quality Assurance Director

Self storage comparison  : http://www.Selfstoragecomparison.info

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

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

Self-storage comparisons  : http://www.Selfstoragecomparison.net

If there is one thing our telephone representatives are aware of, it is that dealing with irate callers can be a bit tricky from time to time.  Though I have known this simple fact for quite some time, it was only when I began to write a "manger call" script that I realized the true importance of adequately preparing our new hires for potentially irate situations.

Many new hires have trouble maintaining control over an irate conversation--and really, this is completely understandable.  Irate callers can be very demanding--very taxing, both emotionally and physically.  Irate callers can demand answers that we simply cannot provide (e.g. gate codes; corporate phone numbers; etc...).  Irate callers can also be rather abusive, flinging derogatory comments as if they do not carry any real weight.  It certainly makes sense that these sorts of calls could intimidate a new hire.

The trick, though, is to remember that our callcenter serves the storage facility, not the storage customer.  This is not to say that we should categorically dismiss the complaints of storage customers--far from it.  Rather, we should remember, whenever we handle an irate call, that our primary goal is sales, not customer service.  We should always do everything within our power to help an angry caller, but we can't fault ourselves (as sales representatives) for our occasional inability to fix a customer's problem.

At the end of the day, we simply need to stop and remind ourselves, "We're here to provide excellent service to our customers"--and our customers are the storage facilities we serve.

Self-storage room  : http://www.Selfstoragerooms.com

Our representatives bring a lot more to the table than just helpful information about storage space.  Indeed, our representatives bring their personal experiences to the phone--their personalities, so to speak.  With this in mind, it is important to remind ourselves that our success as salespeople very much relies on our ability to bring a positive mood to each and every phone call.

Let's remember that some people have already been calling around to other storage facilities when they reach us.  They have, at this point, heard numerous sales pitches, and often their only concern is to get that ever-precious "quote."  This type of caller may be a bit snippy with you once you launch into your sales pitch (particularly, it seems, when you launch into your description of the facility's features).  This snippiness, however, can be quickly overcome by a bit of friendliness--by really striving to build rapport and share a few laughs with the caller.  If you can convince the caller that you do care about their call--that you do genuinely want to help them--they will be much more open to what you have to say.

Even if you don't have a credit card at the end of the call; even if you cannot convince the caller to quit shopping around--you have still made a very good impression.  If you give the caller your name at the end of the call--and if you have been friendly all the while--they'll be sure to ask for you when they call back!

Self storage comparisons  : http://www.Selfstoragecomparisons.net

If you are interested in writing short essays about self storage, secret shopping and real estate property management, then please visit our BLOGGER group if you are already a member.

Writing about simply self storage is not all we do, there are many topics of selfstorage to hit on, such as climate control self storage , cheap self storage , best self storage , and automobile self storage .

If you would like more information about this, please email me here on our social network.

Thanks,

Sarah Little

TQA Director/ Online Marketing

Self storage comparison  : http://www.Selfstoragecomparisons.info

Hello PhoneSmart friends,

If any of you need a dryer, I have one that you can have, For Free!! as long as you can come get it. I don't have the self storage space for it anymore.

It's a Kenmore, about 6 years old. It still works, so email me or call me if you're interested, or know someone who is.

I am not asking any $ for it - just happy to give it to someone who needs it and grateful to free up the storage space that it takes up

Later,

Sarah Little

Self storage comparisons  : http://www.Selfstoragecomparisons.info