Closing is the key

Welcome to the self storage blog, PhoneSmart’s storage diary.

Even your weakest competitor with next to no sales techniques can close the easy ones. Even our weakest call center competitors who are little better than answering services with price lists handy can get the easy ones on the phone to come down to the store. You don’t have to be a self storage insider or have attended the self storage trends workshops at the self storage association conferences to close a rental when the people tell you they want to rent with you now. But what about all those people who are not in the position to make an immediate commitment? What about the people who aren’t 100% sure about your store? What do you do with the people who say they are coming and even make a reservation to make sure they show up?

Here are some ideas that work:

Closing more PhoneSmart leads and reservations…

When a caller is requesting a unit, notice whether the caller needs the unit sooner or later. That will help you decide how to handle the follow up call. It doesn’t matter if the caller made a reservation with a credit card or not. The credit card will tell you that the person has made a greater commitment. But if you assume that every person who has requested a date in the next week or two really needs a unit and really likes your store, you will have the confidence and enthusiasm in your voice that will rent more units.

Needs the unit soon. Only one of three possibilities exist .

1. You have several of the size unit the caller requested available.

2. Availability is very tight and you may not have the unit that was requested very much longer .

3. The unit type PhoneSmart talked to the caller about is already sold out.

You call the person as soon as you get our fax and or email. The call goes something like this:

Scenario 1.
“ Hi, I’m the manager at StorageMart on Griffin Rd. I understand you talked to Robin, and that you’ll be needing a 5X5 on Saturday…… That’s great. We have a couple of them open. I’ll make sure to be here to show them to you. Did you want to come in the morning or would the afternoon be a better time for you?”

Whether the person agrees to come down or not, proceed to sell your store’s best features by asking:
“Did (____name of rep___” tell you about our (whatever the feature is)?

If the person has decided to store, this will help them feel good about the decision. If there is still some question in the person’s mind, this will help you get to the concern that is making the person hesitate.

Scenario 2.
“….We are pretty tight on 5×5s right now. Is there any way you could come down later today or tomorrow to pick your unit? We are open until 6 PM both days. Which might be better for you?

Sell the best feature

Scenario 3.
“….unfortunately I just rented out the last 5×5 last night. However I do have a 5×8 that might work for you. If you could come down in the next couple of days I’d be glad to show it to you to see how well you think you might fit in it? Is Thursday good for you, or is Friday better?

Sell the best feature.

Needs the unit later.
If the hot lead says the caller didn’t need the unit for several weeks try something like:

“….we are pretty tight on 5×5s right now. I’m not sure we’d have any available on the 30th. Is there any way you could come down in the next few days? I do have a few open now. “

Sell the best feature.

This will help you determine how far along the person is in making storage plans, and how much you can help at this point.

Questions to help you.

If you feel like you are loosing the person on the phone, you can get the conversation back on track by asking:

“Are you moving or do you just have some things you need to get out of the way?”

“How did you find out about us?”

“Do you know where we are located?” followed by…”and is that a convenient location for you?”

“Have you ever stored with us before?”

“Can you give me an idea what you were planning to store with us?”

All these questions allow the person to fill you in on his or her plans and sate of mind. This will help you rent the unit.

Save all of the policy information until the end of your call. After you have agreed on a time for the person to come down to the store, decide how much info you need to give . Lock, insurance and admin fees can either be a great way to wrap up a call and help the person figure out exactly what needs to be done to get into your facility…or it can be a turn off. Also, your PhoneSmart rep may have given all this info already. You may find that the person knows all your policies and is ready to rent.

Good luck and good selling…..

bye for now, Tron

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Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.