Former major league player and current baseball TV analyst Mark Grace often uses the term "slumpbuster" when talking about baseball players who need a boost. Grace, who played most of his career with the Chicago Cubs and won a World Series with the Arizona Diamondbacks, often muses on air about the struggles of ballplayers who just can't seem to get hits or get on base—those who are "in a slump."
Players in slumps often suffer from inexplicable bad luck. Not only are they struggling to make good contact with the ball, but when they do, a fielder always seems to make a tremendous play to get them out. Grace, true to his colorful personality, defines those turning-point base hits or games where players start to come out of their slumps as slumpbusters, and he often cheers on players with, "C'mon, (insert player name)! Let's go slumpbustin'!"
Just like in baseball, self-storage sales can happen in streaks. Sometimes you're on fire, selling out nearly every unit, making upsells and raking in the cash. Other times you're in a slump—it's painfully quiet around the office and the phone just isn't ringing.
To get you through (and out of) these slow times, check out the Long Dry Spell discussion thread on Self-Storage Talk, the official online forum for Inside Self-Storage. If you're panicking because you feel like you've set a record with your sales drought, your colleagues online can empathize and make you feel a little better. They even have some creative ideas for how you can break out of your slump, such as throwing a party, improving your search-engine optimization and Web marketing.
Granted, some SST members are lucky enough to have gone a few days without renting any units, but others have gone as long as a few months! It really depends on each facility's environment. Log on to Self-Storage Talk, register if you haven't already, and find ways to say "so long" to your slump. The weather is warm and your sales should be, too.