Mark Beck, former vice president of operations for the William Warren Group and StorQuest self-storage, has launched a new self-storage coaching firm, StorageAlly. The company will provide industry consultation, facility support and employee training at all levels. Self-storage owners and operators can access a range of services including sales training, phone and mystery shops, facility audits, employee recruiting, collection training, competitor surveying, social media support and strategic planning.

Beck has been in the self-storage industry for 18 years. In addition to his post at StorQuest, he previously served as a market manager for Shurgard Self Storage in Belgium and an ambassador for the California Self Storage Association. During his career, he has assisted in the operation of more than 200 self-storage facilities in Europe and North America.

Having worked his way up the ranks from the position of assistant self-storage manager, Beck said he understands the day-to-day details of the industry. As a result, he wants to provide the type of affordable support that employees and small operators find valuable. His new company aims to serve small to mid-size self-storage businesses.

The assistance a company needs may require one day, one month or even several months. Its about building a strong enough foundation on which the business can ultimately prosper," Beck said. Whether youre a new self-storage facility owner who wants to get off on the right foot or someone who wants to take an existing business to the next level, we can certainly help business owners achieve that goal."

StorageAlly's one-on-one intensive coaching or team instruction is available 365 days per year. All calls placed to the company after normal business hours will receive a response within two hours. Training may be delivered through face-to-face contact, telephone or webinar and involves examining a clients goals. The next step is to remove any barriers and promote a more profitable strategy based on company capacity and current industry trends.

StorageAlly will participate in the upcoming Inside Self-Storage World Expo in Las Vegas, where Beck will present a seminar titled "Handling Customer Reviews and Complaints in a Facebook World." He'll teach attendees the importance of social customer service, how to better serve customers online, why they need an online recovery strategy, examples of social customer-service successes and failures, and how to respond to an upset customer via Facebook and Twitter. Expo details can be found at www.insideselfstorageworldexpo.com.