eKourier Jan 2009

Where did it come from? What does it mean?

“cared”. A message delivered strongly by our teams. Hence the birth of our position statement: “Store with People who Care”. This statement rang true and was fitting on so many levels. Our industry is driven by events in peoples lives necessitating the need for storage. These events can be quite stressful. Ranging from marriage break ups, deceased estates, in between homes for various reasons etc. Appreciating the circumstances of each enquiry deserves the care and compassion that teams endeavour to deliver. This position statement also fits in with the values and philosophies of the company. We only give you as much storage as you need, you only pay for what you use and we have removed all ambiguous administration fees once associated with signing up for storage, all because we care about being a company that is ethical and transparent in all dealings. Self Storage is a simple business which is easy to imitate. Competitors continue to follow our lead in regards to innovation and business practices. The one thing they can’t imitate is the quality of our people. Our people can make the difference and one way to make that difference is to care about the needs of our customer, care about their goods in storage and just as important, care about ourselves and our centres. The success of our positioning statement “Store with People who Care” will depend solely on each and every one of us adopting the position “People who Care” in everything that we do! In short we have to back up our promise by delivering the goods. - Darren Marshall

Back in March 2004 a Directions Conference was held by Kennards Self Storage (similar to Momentum 08 conference of today). The purpose of the conference was to crystallise our focus for the coming year(s). It was a very exciting time as it was the first time we were introduced to the prospect of buying out our biggest competitor Millers Self Storage. Just as exciting were the many outcomes achieved at the conference. One outcome in particular was fostered and developed to engage our customers by enhancing our identity and cementing our position as a Market leader. To help us discover this exciting new proposition was a company by the name of Blue Moon Creative. How they did this was by mystery shopping us and competitors gaining insight into the strengths and weakness of each self storage company. By using a third party an unbiased opinion was formed for each of the self storage companies. It was this feedback which allowed us to understand and determine what makes us different to our competitors and what defined us as a company. In summary the following perceptions were made about us and our competitors. Millers Self Storage – were the salesman pushy in their delivery. Storage King – was the budget low price alternative. Kennards Self Storage – showed interest and real concern for the customer. Most people would say your Brand is a Symbol, Sign or Word that identifies your business. But in fact it goes much deeper than that. Your Brand is your emotional connection with the consumer.

“How does that person feel when they hear or see your brand”? Companies with a strong brand can leverage off these thoughts and feelings to strengthen their position in the market and heighten awareness in the hearts and minds of consumers. It is this emotional awareness by consumers that will determine whether or not you are or become a famous household name. Some examples that you would all know; Woolworths – “The fresh food people” David Jones – “There’s no other store like David Jones” Coke a Cola – “The real thing” These statements differentiate these companies from their competitors and confirm their position within the market place. Woolworths claim they are the fresh food people, by saying this they are insinuating that everyone else is not fresh. Hence the birth of our position statement “Store with People who Care”. Some of you may disagree with that statement, but everything Woolworths does revolves around being fresh, which has made them a market leader. Back to our own company, after hearing the objective views of Blue Moon Creative about us and our competitors we set out to determine our own definition of who we are, where we stand in the market and what separates us from our competition. There were a number of suggestions put forward and strong discussions around each suggestion. But in the end it was obvious we were a company that

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Kennards Kourier February 2009