Selling On Site with Limited Staff

It is a trend in self-storage and other industries to have limited staff running properties, which can lead to a diminished customer service experience. There are ways to keep your customers happy, even if you are working with a smaller staff.

Make Sure Your Hours Are Posted

I believe it’s essential to display your hours of operation prominently on the front door, the gate, and at both the entry and exit—basically anywhere possible. Customers need to know when you’re open.

At SkilCheck, we conduct mystery shopping not only over the phone but also on-site to help train managers in better customer service. You might be surprised by how often our shoppers report that a store says it’s open, but no one is there. Sometimes there’s just a sign that reads, “Be back in 5 or 10 minutes,” and shoppers wait that long or even longer without any service.

My son recently conducted a mystery shop in the Phoenix area and encountered a significant issue at one store. He told me that when he arrived, a sign indicated the manager was at lunch and would return at 2:00 PM. The sign had a movable clock that he could adjust. He decided to wait in his car for about 20 minutes. However, when the manager came out, she changed the time on the sign, extending the wait by another 20 minutes, despite seeing him sitting there. I found it appalling that she allowed a customer to wait in the heat of Phoenix without any consideration. I thought that was unbelievable.

Keep Your Hours Current on Your Website

If you have specific business hours when your office is staffed, it’s important to clearly display them on your website. Ensure that the information is accurate so customers can easily pay their bills and access all necessary details. Nowadays, many people rely on websites since phone books are no longer common; your website is often their only source of information. Therefore, it’s essential to include not just your prices, but also your operating hours, location details, and any other relevant information. Make sure your website provides all this information and allows customers to make payments easily.

Give Customers a Way to Reach You

It’s important to consider how frustrated customers can become when no one is available at the property during scheduled business hours.  I appreciate it when there’s a mobile contact number listed on the front door for assistance. The number could lead to the manager or a call center. This way, customers can reach the manager for assistance or to find out when they will return to the office. However, it’s best to avoid leaving customers waiting too long.

Manager Accountability

Manager accountability is crucial in this job, especially when it comes to selling both over the phone and in person. When I’m hiring, I look for salespeople who possess a great personality and genuinely enjoy interacting with others. Having the gift of gab is essential because effective communication directly contributes to our success.

As a manager, it’s important to provide excellent service, be punctual during office hours, and follow up promptly with leads—this is critical. The quicker you respond to a lead, the higher the likelihood of making a sale. Waiting three days to respond is unacceptable; in fact, I’ve seen instances at SkilCheck where managers take up to 13 days to reply to a pricing inquiry. This is simply incompetent. In an aggressive sales environment, even waiting 13 minutes is too long. If you’re facing strong competition, your response time needs to be much quicker to stay competitive.

Give Amazing Customer Service

It’s important to provide excellent service and a great presentation while ensuring outstanding customer support. The key to achieving this lies in hiring friendly, helpful staff, as you cannot change someone’s personality. Therefore, when interviewing candidates, I prefer to do it over the phone first. If they can’t make a positive impression during that call, there’s no point in bringing them in for an in-person interview.

There’s a trend in the self-storage industry to automate everything. While this might work in rural areas, it’s not as effective in urban environments. Regardless, you want to ensure that your service is exceptional.

Technology Can’t Replace Staff in All Instances

There’s a trend today toward operating properties with absolutely no staff. While this approach can work for very small properties, I believe it’s not suitable for larger ones, especially those with active stores. I consider myself old school, and I firmly believe in the value of managers. I’ve taken over properties that were struggling, often through assignments by bankruptcy courts. A judge once called me to express amazement at how quickly I turned the operations around. When he asked how I did it, I told him it was all about having amazing managers. His response was, “That’s it?” I explained that finding great managers isn’t easy, but it’s essential.

For small storage properties in rural areas, it might be fine to operate with minimal staff. However, if you have a large property in a metropolitan area, it’s crucial to hire an exceptional manager. If you’re starting a new store, make sure you have good staff—aim for at least three people. In fact, I’ve managed larger facilities, such as a storage site in Northern California with 2,000 units and 6 staff members. While that seems like a lot, the number of customers renting units necessitated it.

To be good at selling, focus on enhancing your salesmanship on-site. Every customer interaction is an opportunity to build trust, demonstrate value, and move closer to a rental commitment. Successful self-storage managers don’t rely on a scripted sales pitch—they actively listen, ask thoughtful questions, recommend the best storage solution, and confidently guide customers through the rental process. By creating a welcoming experience, personalizing each conversation, and asking for the rental, you can increase conversions while building lasting relationships that lead to positive reviews, referrals, and long-term customer loyalty.

Accompanying Video: “Selling On Site with Limited Staff”