Submitted by charleskaser on Saturday, January 9, 2010 - 04:56

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Effectively Marketing Self Storage Unit Facilities in the New Year

As the New Year approaches we all make resolutions on things we intend to do better. One area should be the performance of your active marketing. With shrinking budgets, making sure your marketing dollars are actually working should be at the top of your list.

Marketing can require huge investments and two areas we need to increase focus on are lead source tracking and converting those leads to rentals. Many people deviate very little from the marketing efforts they have done in the past because it’s easy and they assume it works. With today’s economy and competitive environment, now is the time to go beyond assumptions and know without a doubt whether your marketing is working or not. Being able to do that really comes down to a few simple techniques. One of the most accurate tracking methods that I want to focus on is the use of unique call tracking numbers.

Call tracking numbers allow you to:

 Track scientifically how many calls each of your advertising sources is bringing you (eliminating your need to rely on managers or customers for this crucial data)
 Track the average length of your calls
 See how many and at what times of the day calls are being missed
 Capture caller information such as name, call-back number, and zip code
 Listen to recordings of calls for live mystery shopping, training, and quality improvement
 Determine how many of your calls are converting to rentals
 And most importantly…determine your cost per phone call and cost per rental for each advertising method

These tracking numbers are extremely affordable and a fool proof way to ensure your marketing is putting money back in your pocket!

The second step to making your marketing work harder is converting more prospects to paying tenants! You are paying some dollar amount for each caller, walk-in, and visitor to your website.

Do all you can to convert prospects to tenants through these channels. Give managers tools to increase their conversion rates such as phone scripts and email templates. They don’t necessarily need to be used verbatim, but if available can give managers a quick reference to the key elements necessary for every call; such as a warm greeting, qualifying questions to ask each prospect to take control of the call, key features of your facility that set you apart from the competition, easy to find directions to your property, and a strong close that encourages the prospect to commit to your facility whether it be by reserving the unit over the phone with a credit card or making an appointment to visit the facility.

Set follow up timelines for managers to follow up with leads that did not rent on the first call or walk-in such as a secondary call and/or email.

With call tracking numbers, you can monitor the success of your marketing campaigns and the efficiency of your employees. You can use the call recordings for training opportunities to improve customer service and sales skills and most importantly increase your number of rentals each month. Don’t forget to incorporate incentives and bonus structures to help keep managers motivated and on track to achieve the results you want.

By tracking and converting more prospects; a good return on your marketing investment is one resolution you can keep in 2010.

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