eKourier Jan 2014

FEATURES

Backstage with National Accounts

O ne of the reasons I love this role is meeting so many new people from different industries and fields of business. Through our experience we are refining and building better relationships with our corporate customers which goes beyond a sales pitch. For most of the larger customers moving to self storage has been far more than just filling out an agreement. In a lot of cases its requires significant project manage- ment and in many cases it’s a time of large cultural change. For those of us that understand the offer and value we can provide it’s fascinating to see the process these organisations go through. When I started I never considered it was so much more than the orange roller door, pin code and padlock! In a typical example below there are a fascinating number of considerations that we work through with customers. - At the proposal stage, the future custom- er’s considerations include: - Logistics - Measurable change (for example when moving from a central warehouse model) - In many cases Senior or Board approval is required - Legal checking and approval - One or two have understood the value but the change was so significant the project had to be budgeted for in the following year. It included: - The ending of major property leases on warehouses - The sale or disposal of assets. - Purchasing new types of equipment - Negotiating new supply arrange- ments and delivery contracts This is all before we are considering any detail about locations or unit types. Imagine the economies of scale we can provide for a customer closing down a warehouse that costs them in the order of $6M per annum and includes forklifts, logistics staff and other overheads. - Once signing up we move to the transi- tion stage, this includes assisting with:

- Finding the right spaces and locations - Training their staff

Customer Feedback “I want to say thank you for the very pleasant experience of hiring a storage unit at Wollongong. I particularly want to thank Matt who went above and beyond to help us. He was friendly, helpful, always had the place looking ship-shape and was able to suggest things that overall were so helpful. Thank you again and thank you too Matt.” “Fantastic storage spaces at Kennards in Wanganui. Excellent location, well organised, dry, secure, safe and great people to deal with. Thanks.“ “Very good, very professional, very easy to deal with. Initial enquiry on line one night and I received a follow up call the following day. Sadly great customer service can be rare these days so congrats to you! I didn’t know your company existed until it came time to store my furniture. Thank you Google! The whole experience from organising through to moving was seamless. Moving is very stressful and packing up my entire house not particularly enjoyable, however your team made the whole experience that much easier. I also know that my contents will be safe and dry while I’m away. This is important to me. Thank you Three Kings!” “AJ and Darryl were helpful and profes- sional. You sell good boxes and have a buy-back scheme; you provide trolleys; AJ and Darryl at Fyshwick know the business and know the problems one encounters when moving personal belongings. A friend had stored with Kennards a couple of years ago and recommended the business. I am very happy he did so. I found the Website answered all my questions and when I telephoned and spoke to AJ I felt confident there was no need to contact another storage firm.” “ John Young at Newcastle was the most courteous and friendly person I have ever come across, and these days it is a rare quality. Please credit Mr Young with this due praise. He always did a great job, and nothing was ever a problem. Thank you John. We appreciated your courteous and friendly manner.”

- Covering off on a variety of resource and WH&S issues (shelving, trolleys, unit location etc) - It often involves a road show of sessions together with their HR Team. This is an important point of the process for KSS. There can be significant emotion involved if you were one of their employees. Your office and base of 10 years may have been closed and you’ve seen colleagues leave the company as the efficiencies are made. “ When I started I never considered it was so much more than the orange roller door, pin code and padlock! ” That’s why in the training and road show it can be an exercise in showing the value and simplicity of what we can do for them. Self storage by nature means that we make it easy for the customer to take care of many elements themselves. For some they are transitioning from someone else doing this for them and it can sometimes be hard for them to see the value in the beginning. Depending on the size of the transi- tion this could take months meaning that while some units will be occupied immediately others selected may not be occupied for some months. With 12,500 square metres rented in National Accounts now we are extremely proud of the value we’ve provided and what we’ve learnt from working through these experiences with our customers. More and more it’s about the value, not the price. Fiona Harding Business Development Manager

Kennards Kourier January 2014

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