Rent More Storage Units Fast – No Selling Required
It’s Easier To Rent Storage Units With Effective Follow Up Than It Is To Become a Sales Pro.
I’ve been frustrated over last few years because there are some of my store managers who really “get it” and pick up selling skills quickly and others who struggle. I hated feeling held back because my managers weren’t naturals at selling.
I needed something for my managers that…
- Is easier to acquire than selling or persuasion skills.
- Anyone could succeed at and get great results.
- All of my managers could use to contribute to the selling process, regardless of their natural ability.
- Allowed me to rent a lot more storage units.
I racked my brain. One day I locked myself in my study and I closed my eyes and I thought for a long time about what is the most simple-to-execute piece of the sales process. I wrestled with the question
“what part of the sales process relies the least on nuance and still delivers results?”
Follow Up Is A Part Of The Sales Process ANYONE Can Master.
Because the follow up process can be more mechanical than the “art of selling”, it becomes easy for property managers at every skill level to master. No more reliance on inherent skill. No frustration because a store manager doesn’t get the nuance involved in verbal persuasion.
Effective Follow Up Is A Repeatable Process That Turns Shoppers Into Renters
You’ve probably heard your property managers tell you that in these economic times more than ever your potential customers are shopping around. When done well, effective follow up allows your property manager to…
- Reliably get permission from the prospective customer to follow up so that future phone calls are welcome and anticipated.
- Initiate communication repeatedly without coming across as annoying or pestering
- Make prospective customers anxious to accept your property manager’s phone calls and reply to her email messages.
- Unevenly stack the deck in your favor by having multiple chances to win the prospects business.
Most managers don’t have a real process they can follow that allows them to work with a prospective customer through the buying process. Most quote their lowest-authorized price or special and hope that the customer calls them back after they have shopped around.
Effective Follow Up Gives You A Process You Control
The bottom line is that telling a customer “Call me when you’re ready, I’ll meet or beat any price” just doesn’t work well enough. It is too passive.
The process you and your property managers will learn in the workshop will…
- Allow you to control the follow up process, even with people who want to shop around.
- Keep you in control and not waiting (or hoping) for prospective customers to call you back.
- Build rapport and motivate customers to rent from you.
And that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Effective Follow Up Helps You Become Friends With The People Who Don’t Need Storage For Several Weeks (Then They Rent From You)
Most people are on a tight deadline to figure out where they are going to store their stuff. But some won’t make a reservation because their need for storage is more than a week away, and they aren’t ready to make any firm commitments.
Most store managers are passive during the week or two or more that passes between the time the prospective customer first initiates contact and when they make a decision to rent.
Rather than doing nothing, the workshop will show in great detail how your store managers can use the time that passes between the initial inquiry and the rental to build rapport and to serve their prospective customers. They will be outclassing and out renting the competition.
Whey your property manager stays engaged with these prospective customers over time, he becomes the trusted advisor and the “no-brainer” choice when it is time really decide and pull the trigger on a storage space.
Immediately Start Renting To More People Who Say They Will “Come in on Saturday” But Then Never Show Up
This happens more than your property manager wants to admit.
When your managers learn effective follow up skills they can ensure that appointments are kept or rescheduled. When more appointments are kept, more rentals happen and more income flows into your store.
Here is what you’ll find inside:
The workshop is broken down into five bite-sized sessions.
Session 1 – Six Keys to Follow Up That Get You New Rentals Fast
Here we lay the groundwork and equip your property manager with tools she can begin using immediately to improve her follow up.
In this session you’ll help your property manager learn six key building blocks…
- Why and how to get a name and phone number during the greeting.
- Why and how to understand when your prospect needs the space.
- How to keep track of your prospective customers.
- Why your life gets easier when you write down personal information the prospect has shared with you during the call and how to use it to continue to build rapport later.
- The secrets to timing your follow up and why you should follow up often.
- How to make the follow up job you will be doing in the future easier by calendaring the follow up contacts.
We will build on those skills in sessions two through five.
Session 2 – Using Follow Up to Pull In Shoppers and Keep Them From Your Competitors
This session covers in detail how to effectively follow-up with prospective customers who call or visit your location, but then insist on shopping around.
Property managers will learn:
- How to re-insert themselves into the buying process before the prospect makes a final purchase decision.
- A process that they can control, rather than just waiting for the prospective customer to call them back.
- How to rent the space for the most money possible and avoid offering low-ball prices or extreme move-in specials to get the sale.
- The secrets that make it extremely likely that the prospective customer shops but ultimately chooses to do business with you.
Not being able to close the deal or secure a commitment happens to even the best sales people because the customers who call your location first (before calling anyone else) have no way of knowing that you killer offer is good or bad. They explore other options to put your offer in context.
Given today’s economy, think of how many people are shopping around. Knowing how to rope in more shoppers has the potential to increase you monthly income by thousands.
This session alone justifies the price of the workshop and then some. Follow the tactics I outline in this one session and you will rent more storage spaces.
Here’s an email from a store manager in Atlanta, Georgia
Kenny:
I signed up for the tips at the end of the lesson and that is why I am still a part of the training. I look forward to your emails and always find something I can use to my advantage. I was actually able to use some of the things I learned in the workshop just yesterday to rent 5 units to one customer for her business needs. Thanks for taking time out of your day to make mine a little bit better.
Sincerely,
Stephanie K. Smith
The Storage Neighbor-Research Park
Session 3 – Getting Your Appointments To Show Up (So They Can Rent)
In this session you will help your property manager to follow up with prospective customers who have made an appointment to rent from you or tour your property.
Your property managers will learn…
- A ninja mental shift that will turn follow up from a chore to an act of service.
- The secret to locking your prospective customers in and not losing them to competitors, even when they are offering heavy move-in incentives.
- A simple and effective way to reschedule with prospective customers who can’t keep the original appointment.
Most store managers are not doing anything proactive to ensure that the people who say they’re coming actually show up. This session gets more people in the door
Session 4 – Prospects Who Are A Week or More from Renting, How to Create A “Tractor–Beam” That Pulls Them In
When your store managers go through the fourth session they get step-by-step instructions and concrete ideas about how to stay engaged with prospective customers who don’t need a storage space for a week or two, or longer.
Often these prospective customers are reluctant to make an appointment or reserve a space because they don’t know exactly when they will be ready to rent, or they feel it’s not a good idea to commit so soon.
Your property managers will learn to stay engaged with these people prospective customers so that they end up eventually renting with you rather than with a competitor.
Your property manager will get step-by-step answers to the following…
- How often to follow up to so that you stay engaged with the prospective customer.
- Follow up without being annoying.
- Six excuses that open the door to following up with a prospective customer in the time that passes between the initial call and their need for storage space.
Session 5 – Maximizing Move-ins With Voice Mail, Email, and Text Messaging
The best property managers know how to use multiple communication channels to build relationships with prospective customers.
In this session your property manager will learn…
- The one phrase that turns your email follow up from being perceived as pestering to being welcome.
- You’ll learn how to leave voice messages with the uncanny power to get your prospects to return your phone calls.
- You’ll see how to integrate text messaging into your follow up efforts without intruding or annoying.
- Why text messages can work when everything else fails.
- The secrets of combining phone and email to boost follow up effectiveness.
You Save A Ton of Time as an Owner, Regional Manager, or District Manager (While Increasing Revenue)
If you are a property owner or regional manager or in some sort of supervisory role over the on-site property managers, then this training program will be a huge blessing.
- The workshop can be completed by a property manager without any outside involvement.
- Save yourself days worth of time creating training materials
- You don’t have to find the time to lead training sessions
- You don’t have to find even more time to repeat training for new hires
Managers Learn Fast And Easy
What I’ve found is that web-based training works remarkably well if it is presented in multiple ways. Since this is a first-rate training workshop I include video, audio, and text components to the training.
Managers can pay better attention when the training is web-based. If a customer walks in, the training material can be paused and started again once the transaction has been completed.
Unlike a live training, conference call, or webinar, the material can be accessed any time it is convenient.
If you think a manager needs a refresher on the ideas, you can have them repeat the workshop as many times as you like – without investing any more of your time or money.
New Employees Get Training Immediately
One of the things I’ve enjoyed about having this online training workshop is that I can train new employees immediately and with very little additional time or effort invested.
New employees get up to speed and integrate seamlessly because they receive the same training that all of your other store managers have received without delay.
Your new managers will like it too because they won’t have to wait for you to free yourself up enough to provide this training. You won’t have to worry about how soon you can get a trainer to the store.
On-Site Managers Fill Down Time With Training (Even While Sweeping Units or Tidying the Office)
By breaking the training into bite-sized chunks that are no longer than 15 minutes a property manager can squeeze the training in during the gaps between customers. She doesn’t have to find 45 minutes or an hour to set aside without interruptions. (This really removes all excuses to completing the training.)
Some online training materials make you consume everything while you are shackled to your computer. Not this one. The audio from each session can be downloaded to any mp3 player of your choice. In this way, your manager can listen while sweeping units or cleaning up around the lot. There is also a written version that can be printed out and taken to lunch.
Everything, including the workbooks, can be printed out. If you want to review them with your store manager in a meeting, you can discuss the material without looking over a computer screen (unless that’s what you prefer).
I have stores ranging in size from 40,000 net rentable square feet to 140,000 net rentable square feet. If my managers can get through it, I feel confident saying your managers can too.
Workbooks Help Managers Apply The Ideas In The Workshop
I was super careful not to create “busy work” that property managers would resent. The workbooks build on the concepts in the workshop and help your property mangers think through how they will apply the material to their location, their situation, and their style.
The Easiest Training You’ll Ever Roll-Out to Your Employees – My Personal Story
What worked for me was to turn my managers loose on the material and then have them send their completed workbooks to me. I was then able to assess who was really understanding the concepts and who was a little off base.
To save myself time, I then paired the managers who needed help with a particular concept with a managers who seemed to understand it well and had them review the ideas together. The manager who solidly understood the material felt recognized and important and the one who needed a little help was able to get it. All I had to do was review the workbooks and connect the two together. Simple.
Here’s the same story in a step-by-step outline…
- Write an email to your team announcing that you have some new training on hand that you are really excited about and that you think will really help them. Include usernames and passwords. Ask them to watch the introductory videos that explain what is in the training, what kind of impact they can expect the training to have, and how to get the most from the training (5 minutes).
- The next day, email again setting the expectation that your employees all complete one session a week. Let them know that each person is to complete the weekly workbook and email or fax it to you before the week has passed. (5 minutes)
- After the first week have someone on your team review the completed workbooks. (10 minutes per location.)
- It will be obvious that some people completely grasp the material; others will demonstrate that they didn’t understand one or more key concepts. Pair a superstar with a laggard and ask your superstar employee to help the laggard understand the material and to correct any misunderstandings. Ask your superstar to email you when the laggard is up to speed.
- If necessary have one of your property managers post a question in the online comments area below each of the five sessions in the Follow Up Workshop, and I will chime in with a clarification or an answer to the question.
- Repeat with session 2, 3, 4, 5.
- When your property mangers begin to have success, celebrate! Publicize their successes to the whole organization to encourage those who have been more reluctant to implement the tactics in the workshop.
You’ll know your managers are getting a lot out of the workshop because they will tell you how much they appreciate having a resource like this that helps them do their job better.
The Big Old 100% Satisfaction and Effectiveness Guarantee
Once you purchase the Effective Follow Up Workshop, if you are ever dissatisfied, let me know and I’ll give you your money back, no questions asked. I haven’t had anyone request a refund yet.
When I first started selling the workshop I didn’t offer it to anyone but people in the industry I knew personally. I would call them on the phone and would explain what I had created and how it was working for me, and I would ask them if they were interested.
Everyone was intrigued, but explaining the workshop in detail and following up with them to answer questions was just too time consuming. I remember saying to myself on several occasions… “just buy the thing, and if you don’t like it I’ll give you your money back, and that will save us both a bunch of time.”
I’m super-confident that you will like the workshop and that it is going to help you. I’m facing the same problems you face, and I created the workshop first and foremost because I needed it. I’ve been using it for almost a year in my own company and I know it works.
Have your managers listen to the audio sessions. Help them put in a good-faith effort, and I am not allowed to keep your money if it doesn’t work for you. Let me know if this happens, and I’ll refund your money promptly.
I make this guarantee in part to reassure you, and also to reassure me. I really don’t want anyone’s money who can not seriously benefit from this information for any reason.
I own two self storage facilities as well as an RV Park in Mississippi and have been using Kenny’s Follow Up Workshop since September 2010. I highly recommend it. It has been a great tool for me to get some extra rentals in all of my businesses. It quickly pays for itself – you’ll see the extra benefits within the first week.
-Keith Russell, Owner Audubon Point Self Storage
The Effective Follow Up material is just what our team needed to learn the techniques and gain the confidence required to make the final step of persuading prospects to become renters. The format of the material allowed our managers to work through the material on their own during slower times of the work day and then we reinforced it during group meetings, team conference calls, and one-on-one follow up. Thanks, Kenny!
– Paul Feikema, VP Operations Hide-Away Storage
(10 Facilities Purchased the Effective Follow Up Workshop)
The Enrollment Fee (and a price break)
The follow up workshop provides you with every aspect of the follow up process you need to rent more storage spaces, even by your least sales-oriented manager.
It covers everything, top to bottom. This is the most comprehensive workshop that teaches follow up, tailored specifically for our industry, that you can find anywhere.
One Payment – Access and Upgrades for Life.
I want to make this as simple as possible, so there are no recurring subscription charges. I’m also selling access on a per-location basis rather than on a per-person basis. This way if you hire a new employee or add an employee at one of your locations they can access the training right away with no cumbersome enrollment process or additional cost.
Get lifetime access and all future upgrades for free
$369 per location. Call 916-538-2266
Money back guarantee if you’re not satisfied. So rather than debate the purchase endlessly, go ahead and get the workshop, you have nothing to lose.
Here’s The Price Break…
If you are a really big owner/operator with more than 30 locations I realize that at some point it would be less expensive to create your own custom training than to purchase something like this. So, for you there is a bundle option. $10,999 and you can have access for all of your locations that you own or manage. If you add more stores down the road, I’ll add them for free. Think of it like an all-you-can-eat option… just better quality than an all-you-can-eat restaurant.
Bonus for Early Buyers
As a bonus and a thank you for being an early follower of the Selling Storage Blog, I’m going to give my personal feedback in the comments section of each of the five sessions through December 2011. If something is unclear to you or one of your store managers, ask a question in the comment section below each of the five training sessions and I will personally respond with the specific guidance or clarification you are seeking.
Get lifetime access and all future upgrades for free
$369 per location. Call 916-538-2266
Now is the time…
We are heading into the winter when sales slow and our store managers have a little more time to sharpen the saw. Those of you who are set up and ready to rock when the economy brightens will benefit the most, while those who are starting from scratch will be playing catch up.
Get lifetime access and all future upgrades for free
$369 per location. Call 916-538-2266
P.S. You are a champion for coming this far…. You are getting a complete program for increasing income and occupancy at your self storage locations even if your managers can’t sell. Sign up and you will save yourself a ton of training time, your employees will love you because you are investing in them, and you’ll make more money.
Iif you have any questions, or need to get in touch with me for any reason, you can email me: kenny {at} sellingstorage {dot} com, or call me: 916-538-2266 (Just remember I’m running my own storage portfolio and might not be able to talk the moment you call.)
The workshop is better than free… if you rent only one additional unit because of the kick-butt tactics you have recouped your investment 2 to 3 times over. Now, go get ‘em.
Kenny has made this workshop extremely “user-friendly.” I really liked having the audio, the written, and the workbook as a set. This made it very easy to follow along while listening to the audio, and then to go through the workbook to practice the specific skills and make them my own. I think the 3-part approach makes the workshop easy for all learning styles. Anyone can benefit from this awesome program, and if you get just 1 rental because of it (and you WILL get more than that), it will pay for itself.
I have been good at sales since I first ventured into the field, but have always lacked the skills for effective follow-up. Therefore, following up has been so intimidating to me that I rarely did it. I knew that I was losing sales that could have been mine if I only knew what to say when I called back, and it frustrated me. On a few occasions I asked my peers how they followed up, and I never got a response, which told me that there are a lot of us out there in the same boat!
This Follow-Up Workshop takes all the guesswork out of it. Kenny gives many examples of valid reasons to follow up with someone without making yourself sound pushy or like you’re nagging. That made it easy.
Within the first 2 weeks of going through the workshop, I had 2 new customer rentals that I could directly attribute to the workshop. I was confident when I called the customers back, and was able to overcome objections that were holding them back, and therefore got the rentals.
I realize that it will take a while for me to really get good at follow-up so that it will come naturally, but in the meantime, I have the workshop and the accompanying workbook to help me to hone my skills.
Thank you, Kenny, for making this available outside of your own team.
Paula Dukesherer
Manager
Airport Super Storage
Ontario, CA
Get lifetime access and all future upgrades for free
$369 per location. Call 916-538-2266