By Matthew Van Horn

Its that time of year againtime to get your 2012 budget finalized. Nows the perfect opportunity to review your facilitys financial position as we move into 2012. For some, this will be used only as a metric to gauge your facilitys financial progression or regression. For others, budget planning is imperative for your facilitys financial well-being in regards to a potential sale or refinance.

The only way to improve on something is to track everything. How much did you spend on office supplies in 2011? How about in 2010? What were your utility bills last year? How much did they increase or decrease from 2010? What percentage of your facilitys total expenses is paid out in utility costs? Do you still need that Yellow Pages advertisement this year? How many calls did you receive from it last year?

Its imperative to project your income, expenses and net operating income for the upcoming year. Here are some line items you should take into consideration when preparing a budget.

Your income:

Your expenses:

Increasing Revenue in 2012

Most self-storage facility managers and owners have already taken the steps to cut back on unnecessary items that weigh on expenses. As a manager or owner you may make one less trip to the office supply store, maybe youre taking your employees out to lunch less, or perhaps youre cutting your facilitys lawn yourself. Once youve trimmed most of the items you deem to be an excess, whats left?

The self-storage industry is very good at cutting expenses. Where the industry has had a lackluster effort is increasing revenue. I cant tell you how many times Ive personally heard, Im 100 percent occupied. Attaining 100 percent occupancy is great. It takes a lot of effort to get there, but after the campaign is gone and the music stops, youre now losing money. If your facility is in a market in which you can attain 100 percent physical occupancy then your rates are too low. Its time to raise rates.

Most self-storage management software will allow you to raise your customers rates automatically. Simply input how often youd like to increase your customers rates, along with the percentage of increase. Consider giving your first increase when a customer reaches an occupancy of six months, and then once per year after the initial increase. The typical increase is 5 percent to 7 percent depending on your market.

Automatic rate increases solve multiple problems. First, you dont have to remember to do the increases manually. The increase letter will go out automatically and your self-storage facility will immediately reap the financial benefit. Second, you dont have to review each increase on a case-by-case basis. This will allow a rate increase to be completed across the board without any emotional attachment to individual situations. Last, it just saves time.

In addition to implementing automatic rate increase, consistently review the competing rates in your facilitys market and make adjustments accordingly. As an industry we must grow revenue to remain competitive and profitable.

Matthew Van Horn is vice president of Cutting Edge Self-Storage Management, a full-service management company specializing in management, feasibility studies, consulting and joint ventures within the self-storage industry. For more information, visit www.cuttingedgeselfstorage.com .