Sure, sometimes self storage sales is about price.
But not always. And not usually.
So stop shooting yourself in the foot and giving away unnecessary discounts by making that faulty assumption.
The other day my coworker and I met for lunch near one of our self storage facilities. After eating some mediocre pizza that sat too long under the heat lamp of the lunch buffet, I headed to our self storage location. Rather than follow me, my co-worker went to a competitor just around the corner to shop them, get a feel for their manager, their prices and their move-in discounts.
Here’ s the report he came back with 20 minutes later…
“When I asked, he quoted me a price and then immediately said, “and we have some great discounts.””
Why would the property manager say that? It seems he was assuming price was more important than anything else.
3 Ways To Rent With Fewer Discounts
- If they are already at your location, they are more likely to rent from you, even without a discount or special. Because they have already invested so much time and energy coming to your location, there is often no need to pull out all kinds of crazy discounts. This is triple true if they drove up in a loaded truck.
- Do your best to showcase the benefits of renting with you (other than price or discount) and then invite them to rent. If they say something like, “I need to check a few other places” then you know that price might be a factor and you can address it. (See my video post on making a better invitation to rent by clicking here.)
- You can always sweeten the deal.
Here’s what you say to the person who just told you they “need to check a few other places”. You say “You are just the type of person I would love to rent to.” or “I would love to have your business.” Then follow with “Let me look at my availability one more time. If I can work you a special deal, can I entice you to go ahead and rent the storage space?”
So, all together it would sound something like, “You know, you are just the type of person I would love to rent to. Let me look at my availability one more time. If I can work you a special deal, can I entice you to go ahead and rent the storage space?”
I’ve found that if you have a strategy for refining the deal you offer, you can confidently offer your storage spaces to people without a discount. This is especially true for people who have already made the effort to physically come to your location.
Minimizing discounts without sacrificing occupancy is one of best benefits of learning to sell more effectively because it immediately increases your revenue.
The three tips above are my approach. What have you found to work?
