PugTalk Session | How to Get More 5-Star Reviews

How to Get More 5-Star Reviews

It's no surprise that reviews are essential to your business.

They help you rank higher on Google and build trust with potential customers, and it's easier to get more than you may think! Join us as we dig into the best practices for starting a review program and share expert tips on how to get more reviews from happy customers!

  • What are the steps to starting a review program?
  • When is the best time to ask a customer to leave a review?
  • How can you make it easier for customers to leave reviews?
  • Are there any rules to follow when asking for reviews?

Featured Speakers: Kevin Mullis & Tommy Nguyen

Aired: March 4, 2025
Duration: 1:09:49

Overview

If you don't have time to watch the whole session, here are some of our favorite parts:

  • At 6:26, our expert discussed why reviews matter to your business and the direct benefits of getting more.
  • 10:00, Kevin walked through how to get a review link for your business and suggested how to share it.
  • Starting at 13:20, he highlighted how getting more reviews can be as simple as just asking for them consistently.
  • At 16:30, our guest shared the best time to ask for a review and how he asks for them.
  • 19:45, Kevin talked about how to get over a fear of asking for reviews and become more comfortable with it.
  • Around 25:30, he discussed what to do if the customer doesn't have a Google account to leave a Google review.
  • At 37:25, our guest highlighted certain things to avoid when asking for reviews.
  • 41:20, he shared how often you should be responding to reviews and gave examples of review responses.
  • Starting at 43:30, he discussed whether or not you should try to add SEO keywords to your review responses.
  • Around 51:20, our expert walked through how to handle negative reviews and responding to them.
  • At 59:20, Kevin shared how to incentivize your staff for getting more reviews.

Catch the Next One!

PugTalk sessions are virtual, self storage workshops that happen each quarter for members of the Pug Pack.

Each session features an expert who will dive deep into important topics for improving your self storage business and explore trends in the market. Every session ends with a live Q&A, where you can ask any questions you may have.

Questions Answered in this Session

  1. What is an online rental?
  2. What customer information should you gather and when?
  3. How should you handle leases?
  4. How do you deal with collecting ID's during the rental process?
  5. When do you give your customers their gate codes?
  6. What is the manager's role in an online rental process?
  7. When should you use same-day move-ins?
  8. Should you allow online reservations?

Live Poll Results: What tools are most important to provide to your employees?

poll-manager-skills

 

 

Meet your speakers

carol-mixon

Carol Mixon-Krendl

SkilCheck

Website: https://www.skilcheck.com/
Email: carol@skilcheck.com
Hailey Teal

Hailey Teal

Jenkins Organization

Website: https://www.jenkinsorg.com/
Email: hailey@jenkinsorg.com

Got questions or comments for the panelists?

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Resources from this session

Awesome Quotes

“Once your operation is in place, you can become more dynamic with your pricing, but that requires data. You need some method of being able to record the data that you need to know whether your price is in the right place - whether you need to move it up or start giving some concessions.” - Warren Lieberman
“I never want to downplay to what someone else is doing. I'm better than they are, then I'm going to be worth a higher price. That's what value is. If you go out to a restaurant and get really good service, would you go back? Yes! What if it was pricier? You'd still go back because you got better service and a better product.” - Jim Mooney
"It's good to be informed on your competition. I don't want to ignore them, but I don't want to respond too strongly to them either." - Warren Lieberman
"We did a survey of 10,000 facilities on their pricing. We found out that two-thirds of those operators didn't change the price of a single unit of the course of a month." - Warren Lieberman
“Rate increases and value pricing are the number one ways to grow your revenue.” - Jim Mooney
"Tenants in more convenient units tend to be less price sensitive." - Warren Lieberman
"The size of the unit is only one aspect of what people are willing to pay for." - Warren Lieberman

Highlights

Foundational marketing strategies to have in place - whether leasing up or stabilized:

  • Website
  • Set up listings (Yelp, Google My Business, Apple Maps)
  • Social Media
  • Establish Local Partnerships

Lease up marketing strategies:

  • Lead Generating Strategies (like digital ads)
  • Aggregators (Sparefoot, Storagefront, etc.)
  • Awareness Campaigns (like billboards, flyers, and sponsorships)

Your average customer value
Find the average stay length of all tenants. Next take your economic occupancy and divide by how many units you have. That will tell you what the average customer pays.

Multiply the average length of stay by what the average customer pays, and that's the average value of a customer.

For example, if a customer stays for 12 months and pays $100 per month, then their value is $1,200.

Your average lead value

Figure out your closing rate (or conversion rate) i.e. how many leads do you turn into tenants? Multiply that by your average customer lifetime value to figure out what your leads are worth. 

Pro Tip: see which lead sources are converting the best. It may be that certain sources have a higher conversion rate, so those leads are worth more to you than a source that barely converts.

Typical Lease-up timeline

According to our panelists, it's typical to see a 3-4% increase each month, putting your facility at 36% after the first year, and 72% after the second.

Alternately, you can look at your lease up goals through the lens of your units, aiming for 20 units rented per month.

For Nick and StorageMax, they pro forma their economic occupancy at 85% with their sweet spot at 92%.

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