WAYNE, PA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 06/02/09 --
U-Store-It Trust (NYSE: YSI), a national self-storage company offering storage
facilities, service and solutions, announced today it has opened a
company-owned call center in Wayne, Pennsylvania and is deploying the
Service Cloud and the Sales Cloud, the industry-leading customer
relationship management (CRM) from salesforce.com.
U-Store-It has transitioned the majority of its call volume to its recently
opened facility from its outsourced vendor. At its call center, U-Store-It
directly controls the service level it provides present and potential
customers. As a result of this transition, the company increased the
conversion rate of calls to reservations and appointments significantly
during the month of May, compared with the first quarter of calendar 2009.
"Our call center is a vital element in our commitment to provide
first-class service to our customers," said U-Store-It Chief Executive
Officer Dean Jernigan. "We are extremely pleased with the initial results
of the center's operations. Our May results provide evidence that taking
direct control of the call center has improved the customer experience
materially."
The U-Store-It call center team is comprised currently of an experienced
call center manager, five supervisors, 22 full-time agents and a number of
part-time agents. Collectively, this team has more than 125 years of call
center experience. In May 2009, the U-Store-It call center handled more
than 25,000 calls.
U-Store-It is integrating the Service Cloud and the Sales Cloud,
saleforce.com's best-in-class CRM, to enhance its sales and customer
service activities. Salesforce.com will provide U-Store-It a consolidated
view of customer activities and behavior through all of its customer touch
points -- call center, web site and store systems. Salesforce.com will
encompass all 386 company-owned facilities and approximately 205 network
affiliate locations. U-Store-It anticipates the integration will be
completed by the end of the third quarter of calendar 2009. As a result,
U-Store-It will have access to a unified view of customer history as well
as timely information on self-storage facilities and network affiliate
activity.
"Salesforce.com is clearly the leader in CRM," said Jernigan. "We are
extremely pleased to work with the best and look forward to enhancing our
sales and service capabilities with its industry-leading technology. This
deployment is another significant advancement in our commitment to provide
our customers and network affiliate partners with superior service."
Visitors may go online to http://www.ustoreit.com to learn more about the
company and to find a nearby storage facility. Visitors to ustoreit.com can
also view the sizes and features of individual self-storage units, reserve
storage space, and pay their storage bills online using a
safe, secure online payment function.
For more information about business or personal storage call U-Store-It toll
free at 1-888-U-STORE-IT.
About U-Store-It Trust
U-Store-It Trust is a self-administered and self-managed real estate
investment trust. The company provides self-storage solutions in all 50
states through its 386 company-owned facilities and the U-Store-It Network,
which consists of approximately 205 additional third-party locations. The
company's self-storage facilities are designed to offer affordable, easily
accessible and secure storage space for residential and commercial customers.
According to the Self Storage Almanac, U-Store-It Trust is one of the top
four owners and operators of self-storage facilities in the U.S.
Forward-Looking Statements
Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in any
forward-looking statements in this press release are based on reasonable
assumptions, there can be no assurance that such expectations will be
achieved. You should not rely on our forward-looking statements because the
matters they describe are subject to known and unknown risks and
uncertainties that could cause the Company's future results, performance,
or achievements to differ significantly from the results, performance, or
achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Such risks are set
forth under the captions "Item 1A. Risk Factors" and "Forward-Looking
Statements" in our annual report on Form 10-K and under the caption "Item
2. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results
of Operations" (or similar captions) in our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q,
and described from time to time in the Company's filings with the SEC. For
forward-looking statements herein, the Company claims the protection of the
safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company assumes no obligation
to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue
because of subsequent events.
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Company Contact:
Tim Martin
Chief Financial Officer
(610) 293-5700