Kenny Pratt

A Solution To The “Not Enough Practice” Problem

Getting enough practice time is a big challenge for self storage managers who want to improve their phone sales skills. When I checked my call recording data for several of my stores ranging in size from 600-800 units I found that my property managers were answering, on average, fewer than 2 phone calls per day […]

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How To Make Move-in Specials A Closing Tool (Not Part of Every Transaction)

On Every Transaction? Unless your advertising says “on every unit” or “on every size” or something similar, then you can better manage your discounts when you think of your move in specials as a closing tool, rather than a default part of the transaction. Move In Special As A Closing Tool Here’s how this concept […]

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5 Reasons Aggregators Are Bad For The Self Storage Industry

An off-topic, but important post. I may not agree with Randy Smith on everything, but I think we should all rally around the movement he is creating to abandon the online lead aggregators. His arguments against the aggregators are sound. Here are a few reasons I’m throwing my public support behind the movement to abandon the self […]

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12 Things I’m Doing With Social Media In 2012

Here’s a quick peek at what I’ll be up to social-media-wise in 2012.  Driving massive (by storage standards) customer reviews to Google Places. Getting more  of my stores and/or markets on Twitter (it’s not the biggest social network, but it’s the easiest to start with). Getting smart phones into the hands of my store managers. […]

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Goals and Resolutions Are Nothing Without Communication

It’s January and everyone is setting goals and resolutions.  You probably have budgets and financial targets for your self storage locations.  Am I right? Two Parts Setting the specific objective is only the first part.  Clearly communicating the objective and why its important to everyone who is involved in making it happen is the second. […]

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How To Help Your Property Managers Make Sense Of The Numbers

I wish I had a property manager I felt was ready to become my new district manager. But I don’t. Comparing my property managers to candidates from the outside, I can see that I haven’t done a good job preparing my property managers to make the jump from single to multi-unit management. The Missing Skill […]

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