One of the things I contribute to this blog, or believe I do, is offer a front line or in the trenches perspective, if you will. At this point, let me address the simple competition survey.  

How many times in the past year have you heard an unemployed tenant ask if you're hiring and then follow up with, “I could do this job, it’s so easy” as they look at you from across your counter. 

I started off a recent day taking the pulse of neighboring sites asking how their year ended, occupancy levels, how January is shaping up, if they were running any specials, and comparing what sizes we had available so we could refer customers to one another. Simply gathering the standard innocuous type of data we all use to determine how we’re faring in our local markets.

During the calls, one manager shared she heard through her auctioneer that a fellow manager couple had both passed away within a month's time. As this site was on my list, I placed the call with trepidation.
 
A voice answered the telephone and it was a familiar one... a former tenants who had landed a job, which was great news for her. Unfortunately the circumstances of her good fortune were based on another family’s losses; the rumor was true. The husband had passed in December, and the wife passed away after the first of the New Year. How tragic, but then again it shows the power of a partnership and a love that they should go so close together in the space of time.

As with many of our colleagues, 2009 didn’t end great and didn't start off well either. We encountered a few more move-outs than anticipated, a few more delinquencies, the family gathered to share in the season, nothing-major transpiring.

Our otherwise fairly quiet holiday season was rocked by the loss of our daughter-in-law’s older brother, a member of the Armed Forces who was reporting back for duty after spending the holidays with the family. He was on a simple drive we’ve all made numerous times, but on this trip the Tule fog, a thick fog central to California's Great Central Valley,  took yet another life.

Which brings me back full circle to the mundane, "easy" chores we perform as part of our self-storage manager duties. Taking payments hours before attending a funeral or innocently calling competitors and  being congratulatory one moment, then compassionate the next is not an easy task. Yet we do this year-round as one customer crosses the threshold with great news, and the next one walks in with a heavy heart. We have to change hats on a second's notice and that's not an easy thing to do. We never know what will greet us when the door opens.

Our competition survey is complete; the numbers will be glanced over and then filed away. However, it's the people behind the numbers who truly matter—the families we assisted by being patient on the rent when they incurred a job loss, severe illness or tragic loss; or the ones we helped through philanthropic endeavors; and the ones with whom we enjoy a friendly competition. 
  
Community manager John Carlisle started a couple of threads on Self-Storage Talk asking members their New Year’s resolutions and I finally have one to add. I resolve to visit—in person—my competitors, colleagues and friends in the industry more often, not just make those easy, dreaded calls.

No matter how you view your competitors, the people at the front desk are human beings. Get to know them, and don’t be adversarial, as it will only hurt you and your business. You’ll be the one who loses in the long run by not meeting some of the other great people who work in our industry. 

To all who have lost a loved one from this earthbound world too soon, for the hearts of those us remaining behind be comforted knowing they touched more lives than we may imagine and may they rest in peace.