Article Contributed by Art Gould
Having worked for several years as a division manager for a busy self-storage facility, it didn’t take me long to realize that the key to success in my business is having a complete understanding of my customers. There are several factors in play that might cause a present or future customer to choose me over one of my competitors. But every person is different and it is up to me to find out what each client considers important.
- Location. They want a place that is close by and they don’t even consider price. Others don’t mind traveling far as long as my price is the lowest.
- Cleanliness
- Security.
- Unit Size
- High-Tech Access. They want keypad control and don’t want to mess with keys and locks.
The point is that everybody is different. And the only way I am going to make my customers happy is to get to know each one of them well enough so that I know what makes him or her tick.
The kind of business that I manage is not defined by set transactions, where the customer comes in, buys something, pays for it, and leaves. Yes I am selling a product (storage unit rentals). But the storage unit is only part of the story. In reality what I am really selling is myself. The type of customer I need to please is someone who is going to stay with my company over a prolonged period of time. Therefore it is vitally important that I build and maintain a strong and lasting relationship with that person. Over many years of striving to make this happen, I have refined what some might call a “sales strategy” even though it seems nothing at all like what most people think of as a typical sales approach. The strategy consists of two basic elements: lots of questions and lots of listening! Let me explain.
My typical workday is not spent behind a desk. Instead I spend most of my time walking the floors, wandering around the storage units where my customers are. And when I see a customer, I never hesitate to seize the opportunity to build and nurture that relationship I talked about. This is also my chance to put my sales strategy to work. It starts with a small-to-medium dose of familiar small talk which soon evolves, almost imperceptibly, into a line of questioning that I try to conduct in a very gentle and unobtrusive way. While trying to make the questions flow as naturally as possible from the drift of the conversation, I am also careful to make sure the type of questions I ask fall into one of three categories:
- The open-ended question: This is the type of question that induces my customer to answer it by doing a lot of talking. In other words, I make sure to ask questions that can’t be answered by a yes, no, or maybe. Instead, my questions elicit a detailed response; for example, “What kinds of things do you use your storage unit for?”
- The clarifying question: In response to a statement my customer makes, I will often ask her to clarify by asking a question like, ‘Are you really saying such-and-such?” Sometimes I do this even when I understand perfectly what my customer just said. My goal is to demonstrate that I not only am listening intently to what my client is saying but that I am doing my best to completely understand it.
- The sympathetic question: This one is easy because all I do is listen to something my customer says and then clarify their point in the form of a question. By re-stating his own thoughts, my customer gets the clear message that I am not only listening but am also sympathetic to his feelings.
Asking questions is one key facet of my sales strategy but the other is doing a LOT of listening. And believe it or not, this is even more important than asking the questions. Keep in mind that getting the customer to do most of the talking accomplishes two goals: (1) it helps me get to know my customer better: what he likes, what he wants, how I can best help him, etc.; and (2) it makes my customer feel important, which only serves to strengthen the bond between us.
My sales strategy has proven to be as successful as it is simple! Why? Because it provides me with a complete understanding of my customers and it cements a bond of trust and loyalty between us. In my business, nothing is more important because customers are the key to my company’s success.
About the Author:
Art Gould is a division manager with Self Storage Company, which operates a group of websites, including a Colorado Springs self-storage locator. Though busy, Art enjoys meeting new people and clients when traveling to sites, like Lakewood or the Denver self storage center.
