eKourier April 2018

Kennards Kourier

April 2018

GoGet Gets Kennards Customers Moving

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J anuary 2018 saw the rollout of GoGet Vans to 15 KSS locations. GoGet is a membership based car sharing service operating in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and Adelaide. They are Australia’s largest car share service with a fleet of over 2,000 vehicles all based in easy convenient locations. GoGet provides an economical alterna- tive to renting or owning your own car. When you become a member you get self-service access to cars across Australia, all available to hire by the hour or by the day accessible 24/7. GoGet rates include petrol and insurance. In self storage we have always searched for ways to add value and help customers move in and out of storage. Our own initiatives for helping customers move in and out of storage have included the free move-in trailer, trucks vans (EMU) and utes at selected locations. Recommended removalists and partnerships with the traditional vehicle hire companies like Thrifty and Budget. All have had varying levels of success.

maintain. Customers can do everything online. The public are also able to use the vans located at a KSS location, making us a destination and introducing storage to new people. GoGet have promoted KSS to 100,000+ members. We are still in the early stages and the signs seem very positive you can follow progress on Yammer by joining the GoGet Trial Group. Darren Marshall General Manager

GoGet provides an economical alternative to renting or owning your own car. Team Members are aware of the time and effort that goes into renting and maintaining our own vehicles. GoGet maintain all their own vehicles, running costs, repairs and cleaning. There are no sign up requirements or agreements to

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1 Kennards Kourier April 2018

WHO’S WHO

Team Member Profiles

In this issue GoGet Gets Kennards Customers Moving 1 Team Member Profiles 2 10 Questions with... 3 Why Online Reviews Matter 4 What Storage Customer Is Your Centre? 5 North Melbourne Huddle 6 Customer Feedback 6 Meeting Of The Minds 7 ‘Crazy Projects’ As Capacity Booms 8 Google Reviews/ Feedback 9 How’s Your Net Promoter Score? 10 A Third Location To Open... 11 Time To Get On BOARD 12 Waterloo Gets A Facelift 13 Customer Feedback 13 Hot Tips 13 Education Is A Two Way Street 14 KSS Lands At Adelaide Airport 15 Spotlight On... 16 Changing Kids Lives... 17 Customer Feedback 17 KSS Assists The Community In NZ 18 Customer Feedback 18 Nev’s Notes 19 Kennards Community 20 Next issue Deadline: July 13, 2018 Editor: Sharon Dux Email: sharon@kss.com.au Distribution: June 15, 2018 Upcoming events 25/4 - ANZAC Day - KSS Closed 30/4 - Skillbuilder NZ 1-3/5 - Skillbuilder VIC 1-4/5 - Skillbuilder NZ 1/6 - Maleny Show Day - Warana Only P.H. Hours (QLD) 4/6 - Queens Birthday- Mt Eden, Three Kings, Wellington P.H. Hours, All other NZ Centres closed (NZ) 11/6 - Queens Birthday- (NSW/VIC/ACT/SA) - PH Hours 15/6 - Sunshine Coast Show Day - Maroochydore & Kunda Park Only P.H Hours (QLD)

Mike Burke Tauranga Centre Manager New Zealand

Career background: Two years in fresh meat sales and 10 years in the Performing Right Society. I have completed my level six Diploma in Business Management and have only three papers left to complete my Degree majoring in Accounting and Finance. Marital status: Married to Carolyn for 26 years. Any children? A son Joseph - 22, just finished his Degree and on his Teachng Post Grad course. Great guitarist and Soccer player and Emily - 19, a talented dancer and singer.

Hobbies/interests: Listening to music, socialising, watching Football (Soccer). Do you play any sport or have any special talents? Weight lifting (a glass of beer) and Cross Country Walking (home from pub)! Favourite book/s: Forgotten Realms (Artemis Entreri) Favourite movie: Blade Runner or Quadrophenia Favourite restaurant/food: Chung Ku - Chinese Food Where did you grow up? I Grew up in Liverpool - UK. Life was all about music, dancing and soccer. Any pets? Two dogs called Alfie and Lily Favourite holiday destinations: Venice Italy was incredible and St Lucia was a great relaxing place.

Albert Dudley Abbotsford1 Assistant Manager Victoria

Career background: Insurance Claims for a few years and I worked in various roles within a specialist Call Centre. Marital status: Not married Any children? No Hobbies/interests: I like playing Video Games and drinking beer with friends. Do you play any sport or have any special talents? No not really. Favourite book/s: ‘Vernon God Little’ by DBC Pierre. Set in the aftermath of a school shooting, it’s a coming-of-age story which is actually really funny. Think Lionel Schriver’s ‘We need to talk about

Kevin’, but with a whole lot more laughs. Favourite movie: ‘The Conversation’, by Francis Ford Coppola. Favourite restaurant/food: San Telmo, an Argentinian restaurant based on the street food from the town of the same name. Where did you grow up? Blackburn Victoria, it was very leafy. Any pets? No Favourite holiday destinations: Burma last year. There is a road there that the locals nicknamed “Death Highway” for obvious reasons. My friend told me this fact just before we embarked on a six hour drive on said highway, in the wet.

2 Kennards Kourier April 2018

WHO’S WHO

10 Questions... With Shri Adigopula - Manager at Fortitude Valley QLD

How would you describe your journey with Kennards so far and what have been the highlights for you? Every day at KSS is different. It doesn’t start the same way or finish the same way. There is so much to look forward to everyday. You run the show well if you enjoy what you do. What interests/hobbies do you have? I have been a photographer for the past six years. Though I do all types of photography, I love fashion photography and Portraitures. I help aspiring models irrespective of age and gender to build their photographic portfolio to achieve their dreams. I have represented as an official photographer for Brisbane Multicultural Film festivals and Lord Mayor Annual events. Tell us a bit about your family? My beautiful wife’s name is Keerthi and she is a full-time Mum and pillar of strength for the family. We have two beautiful boys. Abhinav who is six and Vaibhav who is four. Your favourite Food? I like the right combination of chicken and cheese together and love cookies ‘n’ cream ice-cream. To sum up Kennards in one word would be? Professional. People you meet at KSS remind you of that and also the KSS centres.

How long have you been with KSS? I have been with KSS since November 2017. You are still new to Kennards, Tell us about your KSS experience so far? I have been fortunate in getting thorough training before taking up my role. To name a few - Glen from North Lakes, Nicky, our Ops Manager, Bill the Learning and Development Manager, Shaun from Yeerongpilly and my colleague Grace, have been very helpful in shaping me up to fit in to this role. What are your first impressions of KSS? Right from day one, I’ve found every Team Member I’ve met to be very professional and helpful. Another notice-

able feature is the consistency in terms of procedures and standards maintained across all the centres is commendable. What field of work were you in before this? I started my career as a Web Designer, Print, Graphic and Media designer, IT/ ITIL Support for IBM, Nestle, Woolworths and Telstra for around 10 years and then went on to Manage Retail chains for seven years, where I acquired most of my Sales and Marketing experience. Have you always lived in Brisbane? I lived in Sydney for eleven years and five years in the countryside of Northern New South Wales before moving to Brisbane three years ago.

3 Kennards Kourier April 2018

FEATURES Why Online Reviews Matter

T he online review era is well and truly upon us. Once reviews were the realm of niche sectors only. Hospitality and food were the pioneers in the digital review. Initially it was also preserved for vetted qualified contributors. Now everyone can be an author. Anyone can play the role of a raving fan, construc- tive critic, or even resentful critic. Online reviews have been liberated and available to the masses. When it comes down to it, people want to talk about experiences from other people who are like them. Google have embraced reviews too and now see it as a critical component of an online presence. Google is the main game when it comes to search so the rules they set really matter. mysterious as Coca Cola. No one really knows the formula. There is no silver bullet that ensures SEO success but we know reviews are considered the most important local SEO ranking factor. For Google, the volume of reviews is a powerful dimension of search appeal. In addition, the scores proving the quality of a business build on the ranking in Googles algorithm. Importantly, customer feedback is a precious commodity. Good or bad the feedback should be treasured. Where we can fix something, we should do it quickly. ‘ ‘ The Google search algorithm is as

March 2018

Star Rating

Centre

Google Reviews

4.7 4.1 4.9 4.4 4.5 4.4 4.3 4.6 4.2 3.9 4.2 4.7 4.7 4.4 4.3 4.3 4.4 4.4 4.7 4.4 4.4 4.3 4.5 4.5 3.8 3.8 4.3 4.4 4.6 4.1 4.7 4.4 4.3 4.1 4.2 4.2 4.3 4.6 4.5 4.1 4.5 4.6 4.2 3.9 4.3 4.7 4.3 4.6 4.5 4.4 4.6 4.2 4.5 4.7 4.5 4.7 4.2 4.4 4.6 3.9 4.1 3.8 3.6 4.1 4.8 4.1 4.6 3.3 4.9 4.1 3.3 4.8 4.7 4.8 4.3 4.4 4.8 4.8 4.7 4 4.1 4 4 5 4

Wellington Waterloo

88 48 37 36 31 29 29 29 27 25 24 24 23 23 23 23 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 21 21 20 20 20 19 18 18 17 17 17 17 17 17 16 16 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 14 14 12 12 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 10 10 10 10

Port Melbourne Camperdown

Abbotsford1 Flemington Moore Park

Prospect Auburn Preston

Hoxton Park Parramatta Fyshwick Homebush

Macquarie Park

North Lakes

Campbelltown1 Castle Hill Huntingdale Kingsgrove Thebarton Wollongong North Melbourne Burleigh Heads Wetherill Park Campbelltown

Vermont Mt Eden

Panorama Gladesville Three Kings Artarmon Newstead

Rozelle Ultimo1 Ultimo2

Tauranga Chermside Abbotsford Chatswood Klemzig

Frenchs Forest

Petersham

Wentworthville West End Centre

Yeerongpilly Marrickville

Virginia

Bankstown

Pymble

Artarmon2 Guildford Maribyrnong

Milton Penrith

Springvale St Marys

Browns Plains Fortitude Valley Maroochydore

Warriewood

Hornsby Ivanhoe Mayfield

9 9 9 9 8 8 8 8 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 4 3 1 1 1

Palmerston North

Cardiff

Newcastle West

Sandgate Thornleigh Belmont Brookvale Miranda Mittagong Hastings Hawthorn Kunda Park Mona Vale Rydalmere Erina

Warana

Caringbah

Murarrie

Napier

Kirrawee

Seaford Meadows

5 5 5

Chullora

And, we should always engage online.

Warrawong Onekawa

Con’t Page 5

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FEATURES

What Type of Storage Customer is Your Centre?

Why Online Reviews Matter

Con’t from page 4

your most valuable things in the most efficient and secure way?

There has been motivation recently to encourage customers to provide reviews of our services so we have tallied these up. The chart ranks all centres in terms of quantity of reviews. It also offers insight into the quality score given by the reviewers. The Google search algorithm is as mysterious as the recipe for Coca Cola. No one really knows the formula. There is no silver bullet that ensures SEO success but we know reviews are considered the most important local SEO ranking factor. The more reviews each centre has – the better we will rank. In addition, we know that user reviews impact the purchasing decision. A recent survey by Podium (an online reviews management specialist firm) revealed that 93% of consumers are impacted by online reviews. Crucially, the virtuous circle of Google credibility begins, if reviews impact consumer choice then they will improve a web sites ‘click through rate’. Googles algorithm views strong click-through-rates as an indicator of relevancy, and lifting a sites ‘quality score’, further improving a sites organic ranking. At Skillbuilder everyone was exposed to further education on reviews. We have also improved our systems and resources to help the process. At KSS, there is much to be proud of. We do surprise and delight our customers, so we hope that these translate in to positive reviews. But don’t be shy too. Go ahead and ask the customer to let others know so they can also make a good choice.

Ask yourself – if the cost of your company units was to be charged to your centre, would you review how and what you stored? We have recently reviewed and updated how we secure our archive rooms and company units. During some recent Systems Reviews we discovered that some centres archive unnecessary Agreements which increase the need for space and increase risk. In the ever changing world of crime and fraud, identity theft has been rated as the fastest growing form of theft. It is important for Teams to always be looking at ways to protect our business against such crimes. Our Storage Agreements are a target to identity theft criminals and are of value on the black market. Improving security of our company documents is more than a lock and an alarm it is also archiving necessary documents and only for the required period. Any documents dated before 2011 should be destroyed. The Systems Review can be a good time to discuss any opportunities or questions you have at your centre with your Operations Manager. Carolyn Coates NSW Operations Manager

H ave you ever considered that our business has a need for storage? And in truth you are a storer. What type of KSS customer is your centre? Are you a “set and forget customer” using way more space than you need, avoiding those old documents that were there when you took over and spending more money than you need on space?

Or are you a “smart customer “storing

Sam Kennard Managing Director

5 Kennards Kourier April 2018

FEATURES North Melbourne Huddle

Customer Feedback “Michael at the front desk of Kennards West End was very approachable and helpful when it came to look at present and future storage options. I also liked the flexibility with storage dates.” “I’m really pleased with the great service I’ve received from both Brooke St, Tauranga and Porters Ave, Mt Eden. I’ve received such friendly and professional service from both sites. The storage facilities are clean, well organised and I can always find a trolley to move the heavy stuff. I also really like the personal touch of my name being used on the pinpads when I enter and exit the site. Congrats to the Kennards staff, they’re great!” “Probi was the gentleman that looked after me at the Springvale store, and I couldn’t be happier with the service. Your staff are a credit to your company and I’m very glad to be storing with you.” “The Kennards person at Port Melbourne was fabulous! Goran was a perfect, professional customer service assistant. He knows the business, customer needs and is a consummate salesman.” “Fabulous overall experience. Staff (call centre and on-site at Palmerston North) were informative, cheerful and made me feel like a valued customer at every interaction. Facilities are clean and tidy and exactly what I needed.” “Really helpful at Mona Vale. Very polite. Solved a problem with setting up my account online and followed it through.”

E very three months we try to conduct a Huddle at our Melbourne centres. We are very fortunate to have constant high numbers attend. We make it simple and we usually have a guest speaker from either Victoria Police, the Federal Police, a Removalist Company or Rubbish Removal Company. With a few drinks and a light meal, it’s an enjoyable night catching up. Our last Huddle at North Melbourne was a little different, we organised games for the Team. They had to walk around the centre looking for treasure which was a nominal gift voucher. While walking around the centre looking for clues the Team also got the opportunity to explore our centre and learn a little more about North Melbourne KSS. Views from the roof of our centre are phenomenal, most of the Kennardians were mesmerised by the 360 view of the CBD. Azam Muhammad Centre Manager North Melbourne

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FEATURES

Meeting Of The Minds

“To become that Famous Household Name and truly be The People Who Care, we gathered for our very first Managers Meeting between Darryl and Jelena’s centres with the guided expertise from Masterchef Bill McClean. Just like any other day in our centres, we faced some challenging moments and even some inspiring Aha moments. The conversations flowed and the discussions became relevant to everyone who had either experienced something in their centres or were able to empathise. A great day was had by all who attended. I know I look forward to the next one.” “Firstly, Thanks goes to Jelena, Darryl and Bill for putting together the Manager’s Meeting. I thought it was a very productive day. To see what trials and tribulations other centre’s are experiencing and to share ideas with other Managers I think is a great tool that I would like to see continued. I’ve already sent off some marketing ideas to Auburn and some “bird gel” to Wollongong (heh,heh). I guess as my caption I would simply say “an invalu- able experience.” Shavarne Scanlan Centre Manager Mittagong “Actual/Forecast/Project goals are always discussed in meetings. As an Operations Manager, you have explained to your Team Members how their tasks contribute to the overall goal. When tasks and goals are clear, employees are more motivated to work because they realise their importance in the company. Although the discus- sions we had went a little off track at times within the meeting, it was also good as we learnt new things from other Managers experiences to take back to our own centre. I would have liked to cover the Operational Excellence Review and SMART Goal setting. So perhaps we should continue the meetings regularly.” Darryl Lewisson Centre Manager Fyshwick

S purred on by feedback from the Centre Managers they were asking for the opportu- nity to get together and share good ideas. So the first Centre Managers meeting was held in March at our newly completed Chullora facility. The business continues to grow and evolve with many new faces. Jelena Stricevic joined the Operation Team six months ago and this created a change in the allocation of centers between the NSW Operations Team. This meant a change in my Team with some new faces to get to know and support. To move through the stages of change and build a strong cohesive unit the Team felt strongly in the genuine value of getting together. The idea was to share results between centres, what was working, what was not and the strategies for improvement. An opportunity to collaborate with peers, share knowledge and learn from each others experiences, coming away with real actions for improvement. Our culture is about ownership. The more we can educate and empower the Teams in running their own centre the better.

opportunity to field questions from the group and provide insights into how the Operations Team assess centre performance. Utilising the new large screen monitor in the conference room we were able to navigate through different reports and find key information about their centres. This included Google listings and reviews, KPI Report, Storman Inquiries and Reservations (business pipeline), Kosmo Performance Graphs and Occupancy Reports. Based on this I expect that we will run more of these in the future at regular intervals. Darryl Hodgson NSW Operations Manager Feedback from the Team on the day was overwhelmingly positive. “Very informative and great insight into Operations Meetings regarding Centre performances.” Mark Mallinson Centre Manager Warrawong “I found the Centre Managers Meeting to be a valuable learning tool.”

Leanne Nassif Centre Manager Gladesville

Debbie Jones Centre Manager Auburn

The day presented me with the

7 Kennards Kourier April 2018

FEATURES

Recently quoted by experienced Business Writer Tim Boreham, Sam Kennard warns of ‘crazy projects’ in development in a time when the sector faces a record increase in new capacity across the key capital city markets. Visit https://bit.ly/2GConxL for the Digital article posted 24 March. ‘Crazy Projects’ As Capacity Booms In Self storage

‘Crazy Projects’ as capacity booms in self storage Tim Boreham

Self-storage mogul Sam Kennard has warned of “crazy projects” in development at a time when the sector faces a record increase in new capacity across the key capital city markets. The head of the family-owned Kennards Self Storage, Mr Kennard said he had rejected project propos- als in the past – only to see them funded and built by another party. “The problem is that asset prices are quite high which makes it dif- ficult for new projects to stack up,” he said. “There are some crazy projects planned and I hope good sense prevails: the bank doesn’t fund them or the developer realises the capital costs are way higher than thought. “But some have been built and they are struggling with anaemic occupancies.” In recent years, investors have flocked to the $1.2 billion a year sec- tor because of the relatively higher yields and the security of having hundreds of tenants rather than one or two. This popularity is not abating. According to the property consul- tancy firm Urbis, 45 new self storage facilities are in the pipeline across the three eastern seaboard capitals, Adelaide, Perth and the Gold Coast – a 10 to 12 per cent increase in existing supply based on available lockers. Of these new facilities, 20 are under construction and a further 15 have received development approval. “It’s the highest level of self stor- age development activity we have ever observed,” Urbis senior valuer Tim Creighton said. In its latest Urbis Storage Index

Sam Kennard, of Kennards Self Storage, says there are some ‘crazy projects’ planned.

would take some years to emerge and were likely to be confined to specific markets. “Self storage facilities are lo- cal businesses, new facilities 15 kilometres away will not be of an operational concern,” he said. “But trading issues will arise when new facilities open in cus- tomer catchment areas (of exist- ing facilities) that do not have the required levels of additional self storage demand” Mr Creighton said new supply in Sydney was centred around the north-west growth area, with seven new facilities slated over the next three years in locations including Marsden Park, Box Hill and Rouse Hill. In Melbourne facilities are planned at Truganina, in the city’s outer south-west growth corridor, as well as in inner western Yar- raville and in the bayside suburb of Cheltenham.

While he did not specify the dubious projects, Mr Kennard said parts of Brisbane, Adelaide’s northern suburbs and Geelong and Newcastle were tough markets. In contrast, he would love to find suitable developments in North Sydney, Bondi and St Kilda. “This is where there are no stor- age operations of scale and demand is high and density is strong.” Research house IBIS World fore- casts the sector to generate $227m from revenue of $1.2bn in 2017-18. While the sector is spread across almost 700 operators, Kennards is the biggest operator in revenue terms with a 12.7 per cent market share. Also private owned, Storage King has a 10 per cent share while the listed property trust National Storage accounts for 8 per cent of the market.

report, the firm says average east- ern seaboard occupancy levels have fallen by 2 percentage points over the last six months, from 87 per cent to 85 per cent. At around 82 per cent, Sydney and Brisbane occupancies lag Mel- bourne’s 89 per cent. Perth is a notable underper- former with occupancy of only 72 per cent, reflecting the mining state’s “more constrained economic conditions.” But while average occupancy levels have decreased, average storage fees have increased by 3.4 per cent to $341 per square metre across the eastern seaboard – well above the inflation rate. “It’s important to look at both variables when assessing the trad- ing performance of a facility,” Mr Creighton said. Given the lead time between de- velopment approval and practical completion, any oversupply issues

8 Kennards Kourier April 2018

REVIEWS

“In a very distressing time (the loss of a loved one) Brett your Springvale Manager was so helpful and genuine. He reassured me that all would be taken care of with no worries. That meant the world to us. And it was taken care of. Our experience was positive form the minutes I called up, it was handles so nicely. The experience was above my expectations.” “Very nice staff, showed me many options to suit my business. Happy with the service at Abbotsford.” “Customer service was outstanding, I am very pleased with the way my local Kennards store handled my storage application, the friendly staff were always happy to help me out with any questions I had.” “Excellent I’ve used kennards many years ago, I love the fact I can come and go whenever I like, knowing my furniture is safe, also the fact I had a short amount of time to move and Kennards had a truck I could use which was awesome, cheer’s very happy!” “Great experience with Kennards self storage in Hawthorn. Staff were friendly and extremely helpful. Facili- ties and access was great. Hiring the storage was a very simple process. And they are even open on Public Holidays. These guys are a no brainer if you need to put stuff into storage.” “We have been here for almost three years and it has been amazing. The helpfulness from the staff are what got us into this place. We would like to mention Debbie and Matt from the Auburn Centre for their outstanding services throughout our times here. If you are ever thinking of renting storage, Kennards Auburn Centre is definitely the place to be!” “I’ve been with Kennards Auburn for over six years now and they are absolutely fantastic. Always flexible with your requirements. I’ve never had any issues at this facility that wasn’t handled professionally in my favour. What a bunch of stars!!” Customer Feedback

oogle Reviews

Mango Anyone! Bronwyn Maugavao Assistant Manager at Guildford KSS entered a competition with KIIS 106.5 to win mangoes. As you can see mangoes were won along with a visit form KIIS 106.5! Bronwyn says “We figured it would help promote Kennards Self Storage at the same time”. The photos taken are on the KIIS website. “I am not from Hastings, but my belongings ended up there during the move of a past friend who held them in their possession. I had to recently get my belongings back and was referred to Kennards for Storage of my goods. I have dealt with Kelly from start to finish with the placing of my goods in a storage unit. Kelly went all out to ensure that my gear was safe! She also found me a cheaper locker in the end for my small amount of goods! Kelly was completely patient with the completion and return of paper work and was very trustworthy through the entire process. It gave me peace of mind and I felt like Kelly truly cared about me and my belongings. I am based in Australia and Kelly also used her initiative to courier my locker keys to my parents in Dunedin, NZ for safe keeping! What a brilliant service!! Thank you very much Kelly!! You are truly awesome and understand the meaning of customer service!!” Rachael “ Recently, we returned to Kennards North Lakes to store our personal effects after returning to Brisbane from overseas. We were delighted to be greeted by Glen D’Souza once again, who assisted us with our original storage requirements about four years ago. Glen remembered us, and once again he provided us with the friendly and efficient service that we were so impressed with for our original storage requirements. I would highly recommend Kennards North Lakes for any storage requirements. ” Mel “ Brooke and Mark at Hunter Street Kennards Newcastle are fantastic! From the start they provided ideas and work-arounds for storing my tools and equipment easily with access 24/7 and most importantly security. If anyone needs storage in Newcastle this is it! When you store here, you’ll know what I mean! Thank you for all your help and making a difficult problem easy. Cheers! ” Broughton

Left: TSM Darren Dias, KIIS FM representative and Guildford Assistant Manager Bronwyn Maugavao

9 Kennards Kourier April 2018

FEATURES

M omentum16 was the name given to our strategic conference held back in 2016. This conference saw the creation of five strategic pillars that would guide our focus and decision making over the next three to four years. One of those strategic Pillars was to “Deliver a multi-channel Five-Star Customer experience” Our goal is to deliver superior service across each of these channels that surprises and delights our customers and creates a memorable experience. The objective to support achieving this goal is to implement a robust reliable customer survey process. A measure on how we are performing against this pillar through the eyes of our customers. Expectations of your customers can change, the competitive landscape can change. Knowing what your customers feel and think and acting accordingly is very powerful to building a long term successful business. To do this we were very specific about how we would go about asking our customers what they think of us. We would adopt the ultimate question, a single question asked during key moments in the customer’s relation- ship with Kennards.

colleague?” On a zero-to-ten scale This question is then followed up with an “optional” open ended question; “What were the primary reasons for your score?” The first question is a quick and easy measure on how the customer felt about the interaction with the company. The second question provides the gold, details of why they felt the way they did. The score is the measure; the Gold comes from the comments answering the follow up The Net Promoter System categorises the responses into three clusters. PROMOTERS – customers who gave a rating of 9 or 10. They are happy customers who will share their positive experience with others. PASSIVES – customers who gave a rating of 7 or 8. They are indifferent customers they got what they expected. These customers would be okay doing business with you again. They could also be easily swayed and quite happy doing business with your competitor. DETRACTORS - customers who gave a rating of 0 to 6. These are unhappy customers. The experience has fallen ‘ ‘

short of meeting the customer’s expectation. These customers will speak negatively of their experience to friends and colleagues and therefore detract from using your product or service again in the future. The metric is simple you subtract the percentage of Detractors from the percentages of Promoters to come to a single number. The hope is you would achieve a positive number, meaning you have created more Promoters than Detractors. Based on this logic businesses will achieve a result somewhere between -100 to +100. The score is the measure; the Gold comes from the comments left by the customers answering the follow up question. Extracting the Gold should become part of a business’s daily operations; acting on the Gold will make a better business. The simplicity of asking one question and one follow up question improves response rates by customers. No long arduous questionnaires. The customer decides what’s important and what to tell the business. We are currently exploring our options on how best to implement the Net Promoter Score into Kennards Self Storage, so that we may become truly customer centric and to enrich the lives of our customers and move us closer to becoming an “Iconic Famous Household Name”. Darren Marshall General Manager

Net Promoter System one question:

“How likely is it that you would recommend us to a friend or

10 Kennards Kourier April 2018

FEATURES

A Third Location To Open In The Macarthur Area

K ennards Self Storage will be While already serving the area with existing storage centres on Airds Road and Blaxland Road, this third storage centre will be on Menangle Road. The property is adjacent to Macarthur Railway Station and in close proximity to Westfield Macarthur. The area has experienced enormous growth over the years and this will continue unabated. The NSW govern- ment has ambitions for hundreds of thousands more people to move in to the area with priority growth areas anticipated in Douglas Park and Menangle areas. opening a third storage centre in the Campbelltown – Macarthur area.

September 2017, the new development will cement Kennards position as the leader in this market area.

KSS propose to develop the 1.7 ha property into over 600 storage spaces with approximately 7,000 square metres of space. The storage centre will be equipped with the highest standard of security available. It will feature comprehensive coverage of colour digital CCTV surveil- lance; P.I.N. Access Control and individ- ually alarmed spaces. We expect to commence construction in mid-2018 and open the centre in early 2019. Macarthur will bring the KSS portfolio to 90 storage centres in Australia and New Zealand. The company recently surpassed 600,000 square metres of space available.

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KSS propose to develop the 1.7 ha property into over 600 storage spaces with approximately 7,000 square metres of space.

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The development Application was lodged with Campbelltown City Council in March 2018.

Sam Kennard Managing Director

After acquiring the property at Auction in

11 Kennards Kourier April 2018

FINANCE

Time to get on BOARD

T he use of business intelligence (BI), a data analysis process aimed at boosting business performance by helping key decision makers collect, store, retrieve and analyse data to make better- informed decisions is very prevalent in this new era of decision making. At Kennards Finance we continuously keep looking for better ways of influencing and delivering business outcomes, the latest initiative is a new and sophisticated tool BOARD. At Kennards Finance we continu- ously keep looking for better ways of influencing and delivering business outcomes, the latest initiative is a new and sophisticated tool BOARD. ‘

Aimed at keeping pace with our business growth and realising the opportunities, both internal and external. We were looking for a suitable replacement for our current reporting tool which has shown significant limitations over the past few years with limited or no scope for improvements. A close review through our business partners Professional Advantage helped us identify BOARD as a suitable replace- ment. This change has been reviewed to ensure alignment to our IT strategy and future changes in business processes. • Ease of search for information, interacting with data to perform analysis. • Automation of KPI Reporting through BI that is not excel based. More dynamic. • Interact with data from other systems like Preceda to facilitate more automated (payroll) reporting. • Drill down to the source – this function- ality will assist to review transactional details more efficiently. The benefits: • BI, Performance Management and Analytics – all in one single platform.

• Move to the ‘Cloud’ and off Kennards servers to ensure maximum speed and high performance. • Online and more interactive budgeting process; made simpler. • Ability to link to Storman data to carry out business analysis (after set up of the data warehouse). • Managed and developed by Finance with limited IT support. Phase 1 implementation will include 2019 budgets to be rolled out in May/June via BOARD. Communication will be sent out to Teams shortly. Phase 2 implementation in conjunction with the data warehouse will be a big step towards automating KPI Reports. We look forward to welcoming the KSS Team on BOARD… Sathish Gopinath Financial Controller • Compatibility with our accounting software Great Plains.

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12 Kennards Kourier April 2018

PROPERTY

Waterloo Gets a Facelift

Customer Feedback

“Don’t bother going elsewhere ... the Team here at Wentworthville are second to none and make you feel right at home. My gear is completely secure, facility is always clean and tidy, access is never a problem and most importantly the staff are helpful, FRIENDLY, understanding, respectful and quite simply... A TOP BUNCH OF BLOKES !! Other companies could learn a thing or two from these guys ... its a pleasure dealing with them!!” “Trudy in the office at Flemington was extraordinary. Nothing was a problem, cheery and personable. Understanding that putting things in storage can be a time of change. Very helpful.” “Everything was great. From customer service to compassion, the guys at Kirrawee were amazing. I will definitely choose Kennards in the future.” During systems reviews Operations Managers have noticed a difference between centres on how many vacated Agreements still remain in the current folders. We asked centres that had really good results how they achieved such consistent good results in this area? All of them had the same answer –The Unit Activity Report from Storman. These centres use this report to identify every customer that has moved out for the month and check that the Agreement has been removed. It also ensures that the Agreement will be archived in the correct move out month. HOT TIPS

C ontinuing on from the recent expansion in 2016, KSS Waterloo has once again undergone a substantial facelift. The before and after photos show off the freshly painted façade that beams onto Bourke and O’Dea Street. The Kennards vibrant orange and blue building definitely stands out in the local landscape of the inner city. The building was once occupied by Crown Crystals as early as 1915, renowned for their production in glass wear and medicine bottles. The building

was then occupied by Millers Self Storage until we came along in 2004. The archived pictures show that the outside of the building structurally has not changed that much from then to now. Complementing the exterior update, the relaunch of the Concierge Service is proving to be a valuable addition to the services offered at the centre. Making the process of dropping off and picking up deliveries fast and seamless. Tony Vuong NSW Operations Manager

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Education Is A Two Way Street

I recently commenced reading a book “Any Given Team” by Ray McLean (no relation) and in the preface he provides an example as follows “Sometime ago I saw a cartoon that to me illustrated perfectly the gulf that exists between learning and teaching. Featuring Stripe the dog and some young boys, Stripe’s master says proudly, ”I taught stripe to whistle”. His friends cock their ears listen and wait…Eventually one of the boys says,”I can’t hear anything”. Stipe’s Owner, still looking pleased with himself replies, “Oh no I, I only taught him. He didn’t learn anything.” It made me think. It is that time of year where the preparation for Skillbuilder brings ones thoughts to the preparation that goes into each and every session. Probably for me I enjoy the opportunity to learn from Team Members not only at Skillbuilder but all sessions we present. The past couple of Skillbuilders I have been able to take concerns back to the Operations Team to get clarification and in some cases even change to Best Practice on behalf of Team Members. I take great pride in being in a position where I am able to listen to Team Members and present their concerns and more importantly get a result. It is interesting to consider the make up of each session. Where possible we try and create a blend of experience with the

attendees. It is interesting to note often Team Members will sit next to someone they know, which is all well and good for the social aspect, although I often wonder if they are taking responsi- bility for their learning? How will I learn more? How can I be of benefit to others in the room? Is there something more I can contribute? How can I set myself to capture the most out of the learning opportunity presented to me? Why not instead of sitting next to my friend sit next to the newest person in the room, someone I have never met before? Why not instead of sitting next to my friend sit next to the newest person in the room, someone I have never met before? If I sit next to the newest person in the room I could share my experience, offer valuable feedback, maybe even help them understand the FREEDOM we have at Kennards. I might learn from them valuable sales tools from a prior background or an understanding of the challenges faced in different geographical locations. ‘ ‘

These in turn may introduce me to issues I may face in the future. Personally the wide variety of cultures amongst Team Members is such a bonus, consider what you can learn culturally. Which may help you in your centre, either this time or the next? I suppose the upside to this is what I can learn from them. Think about what you may have to offer, it may not be in the form of giving information but possibly a subtle question to help them see things from a different perspective. My question to offer here is why would two Team Members with ten plus years’ experience sit next to each other? Wouldn’t the value be in trying to find an opportunity to work with someone less experienced and provide a more valuable experience for both? Post any of our programs we offer Feedback sheets. Occasionally I see comments suggesting we set up sessions so the more experienced are separated from the least experienced. Is it possible that as a Team Member working at Kennards when I attend any educational opportunity; New Employee Training, Operational Excellence, PEP or even Skillbuilder ,that once I enter the room I am still a Team Member just a different Team? Bill McClean Training & Development Manager

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PROPERTY

KSS Lands At Adelaide Airport

Adelaide Airport

Croydon Park S.A - Open for business Open for business with 700 new easy access units, new office, car parking and security fencing. Adelaide Airport SA - Earthworks complete Initial earthworks finished. First concrete pour complete. Castle Hill NSW - Construction begins The second floor slabs are in and the KSS Team are experiencing life, trading and working around a construction zone. Waterloo NSW - Painting complete The painting is complete, the vibrant KSS facade has bought colour to the inner Sydney. Warrawong NSW - Industrial Strata Units Total Construction has started on the earthworks next door to the recently completed Kennards Self Storage centre. Bankstown NSW - Tenders issued Tenders have been issued for the expansion of the centre, hoping to start construction mid-year. Wairau Valley NZ - Council approved Council approval received, building tenders being called soon.

Croydon Park

For regular updates follow Michael on Yammer and Twitter.

Castle Hill

Michael Macheledt & Craig Henery Development & Construction Team

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PROPERTY Spotlight on Petersham

K ennards Self Storage Petersham is located on 606 Parramatta Rd Petersham, entrance from Palace Street Petersham.

I, Dennis Flack (pictured above) have been the Centre Manager at Petersham for two and a half years while the expansion was being completed. What a challenge that has been. I also had Shavarne Scanlan with me for around 20 months and the help and knowledge from Shavarne made my job so much easier while the expansion was going on. Maharjan (Maya) (pictured above) has been my new Assistant Manager for around five months and has successfully helped get the centre up and running once completed. We have a few customers that come and say “Hi” when onsite and always make comment about the cleanliness of the centre. We have a company storing with us called Waterlilly, they have stored with us for more than 17 years. We are finding the biggest challenge is the location of our entrance to the building. Customers are always calling us asking where the entrance is.

expansion of 2,643 square metres; we now boast 742 units on site. Currently we have 407 rented units sitting at 55.06% occupancy. We now have nine units with drive up access from a single car garage size up to 69 square metre units, all with lighting inside. We also have eight lockers on the driveway and a great range of ground floor units, ranging from half garage to full garage sizes. Our merchandise is about $4,500 per month and growing and we are getting around 50 to 70 enquires a month. Last month we had 67 inquiries and out of that we had 48 move ins and hope to improve on that in the future. The centre has now become 24 hour access seven days a week with amazing security features and alarmed units in the new building, all with PIN code entry and exit.

We are known as the tall orange building on Parramatta Road, top of Taverners Hill, that has amazing 360 degree views of Sydney from the roof top. The building is five Storeys high and can be seen from most points in Sydney. We are located next to Cass Brother’s Kitchen and Bathroom Supplies. We are also a five minute walk to Norton St, Leichhardt with great coffee shops and places to eat. The centre was open back in 1984 as Millers storage. Prior to Miller’s storage it was recognised as Miller’s Brewery which had been purchased from Toohey’s brewery in 1967. Kennards Self Storage Petersham now has 5,986 square metres whereas back in 2004 we only had 3,343 square metres. We have just completed a new

Dennis Flack Centre Manager Kennards Self Storage Petersham

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Kennards Kourier April 2018

CHARITY

Changing Kids Lives All Over The World

Customer Feedback “I stored my things at Klemzig for the best part of four years and it was an excellent experience. Owen and all the other Team I met there were very friendly and highly professional. 24 hour access is so easy, security is rock solid and the facilities are great. Everything about this place is top notch.” “I highly recommend KSS in Abbots- ford. When I was researching storage facilities from Brisbane prior to relocating to Melbourne, I found Dennis (the Manager) to be a model of courtesy and excellent customer service. Also, my storage options were explained to me very clearly. The facility itself is clean and well-maintained. From start to finish, I was very happy with this service, and I wouldn’t hesitate to use it again.” “Just wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to Darren and the Team at Browns Plains for great customer service in my year and a bit stay at your storage units. Darren was such great help on my moving out day that made my transition that much easier. The Team are always willing to help where they can and I felt my stuff and needs where safely met. Again thank you and if I need to store again I will definitely be returning.” “I am so appreciative of the way Michael at Vermont went well beyond his job description for me yesterday. While he was busy responding to other clients he took the time to help me with a battery problem I had when I was at the centre. The battery was dead and had to be replaced. Without Michael’s help it would have been very difficult to get the car to my mechanic. Sometimes it is the things outside of a person’s job descrip- tion that show how good a person’s attitude towards their customer’s really is.” “Everything at St Marys was excellent. Secure location and storage facility. Clean and Affordable. Friendly and professional staff at all times.”

Pictured above: Michael Gallus (left) accepting his Premier of Victoria Champion Volunteer of the Year Impact Award from Mayor John Sipek of Moonee Valley and below: Michael with Charles Shepherd, Manager at KSS Maribyrnong.

“Afternoon Sharon,

Footys4all supply new sporting balls to disadvantaged, underprivileged and socially displaced children all over the world. Kennards Self Storage have proudly supported Michael and Footys4all since its inception in 2012, providing Kennards Boxes whenever needed to ship sporting balls. Sharon Munro EA to the MD

Thanks for all your support particu- larly from Charles Shepherd and the Maribyrnong Centre Team. I was recently awarded the Premier of Victoria Champion Volunteer of the Year Impact Award for my volunteering in the community through Footys4all, at a reception at Government House in Melbourne. It was a great honour to be chosen as one of 10 Victorian volunteers out of the states 1.5 million volunteers. It only happened thanks to a united Footys4all Team effort of which Kennards Self Storage is a very important part of and has been over the past six years. We are also running a project in Uganda Africa at the moment which is having international success, distributing hope and a sporting opportunity to 1,000’s of Ugandan African school children. Once again I thank you and your company’s ongoing support in “changing kids lives one ball at a time.

Regards, Michael.”

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CHARITY

KSS Assists The Community In New Zealand volunteer organisation.

“On Saturday morning I stopped into your store in Maroochydore to buy some packing boxes. I was served by a man with a South African accent (sorry didn’t get his name, but I’m sure you know who I’m talking about) I must say, what a breath of fresh air he was for customer service on the Sunshine Coast. He was Brilliant. So Friendly, Helpful, not rushed, knew his products and could not have done anymore to help. Massive thumbs up, I was very Impressed.” “Kennards Self Storage at Macquarie Park is an excellent business. We had furniture stored at this facility for five months. During this time we made several visits to deposit and collect items. Every time we visited the facility, it was very clean, well lit and easy to access with a secure code at the entrance and exit points. From the very beginning of our initial enquiries to the very last interaction we had with the staff, we always felt like we were dealing with a business that was extremely well run. Philippa, at reception, was always efficient and pleasant and we would definitely recommend this business to anyone needing to store their belongings in a safe, secure and clean facility.” “I don’t often provide online/public feedback for businesses, unless the service is unexpectedly impressive (or terrible). The experience at Kennards Hawthorn has been fantastic. Emma and the other staff are very friendly and extremely helpful - their customer service is first class at this facility.” “Dane and Team are amazing, always helpful and very organised. I have been at Kennards for over five years now and have had a fabulous experi- ence there. I highly recommend storing at Kennards, you won’t be disappointed, the service is 2nd to none. 5 stars from me.” “Tauranga made it so very easy for us with moving our house. We stored our whole household belong- ings for a month. Very friendly staff, helped whenever they could. highly recommend using these guys.thanks very much.” Customer Feedback

P art of being a good corporate citizen within the community is to support organisations in a modest way where we can. Unfortunately the demand and number of requests for support has increased and while we appreciate being approached, the reality is we are limited in who we can assist. Recently we have helped CISV New Zealand with some discounted storage space. CISV provide a range of unique, educational group activities, which develop cross-cultural understanding in children, youth and adults from around the world. The founder – Dr. Doris Allen from the USA established CISV in 1946 and can now be found within 60 countries with over 190,000 people involved – one of her inspiring quotes is “People learn more effectively by doing things themselves. Experiences should be direct, not second-hand.” By encouraging respect for cultural differences and the development of self-awareness, CISV empowers each participant to incorporate these values into their lives as they become global citizens and strive for a more peaceful world. They are charitable, independent, non-political and a not for profit

As part of sponsorship – CISV acknowl- edge KSS on their website and now have a click through banner logo that directs back to our website. All families are regularly informed where to go to obtain equipment or property that is now stored with us when different types of events are held. By encouraging respect for cultural differences and development of self-awareness, CISV empowers each participant to incorpo- rate these values in their lives... While there is not direct financial benefit to KSS, we are able to demonstrate ourselves as helping the local community, a positive promotion for the business to be involved with. Andrew Kirkham NZ Operations Manager ‘ ‘

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