ISS BLOG - My 3 Self-Storage Operational Commandments: Follow Them to Gain a Market Advantage

When I graduated from college and started my first job as an agricultural lender, I was full of vigor and excitement. I had landed my dream position and was eager to get going! On my very first day, I remember my boss saying, “Ben, if you want to succeed in this business, return your calls and do what you say you’ll do.”

As it turned out, being a successful lender wasn’t about offering the lowest interest rate or the quickest closing process. Being competitive came from understanding the most basic element of every transaction: customer service. I had to follow through. I had to do what I promised.

I’ve thought about that advice a lot over the years. In fact, I’ve treated it like a “thou shalt” commandment. Do it, and you’ll be OK; don’t, and watch out! Following are a three similar decrees I’ve applied in my years as a self-storage owner and developer. Heed them, and they’ll help you gain a competitive advantage and become a leader in your market. Ignore them, and, well … Good luck to you.

Commandment 1: Thou Shalt Know Your Customer

Transactions with real people are what generate revenue in the self-storage industry; and our customers are real people who are often going through a stressful life event. They may be making room for an elderly parent or moving into a new home. Maybe it’s a couple just starting their life together or welcoming a new child. Perhaps someone is sick or dying. It could be the customer is relocating for a new job, remodeling their home or making room for a home office. Whether the demand for storage comes from an exciting new chapter or the darkness of loss, our tenant is usually not having their best day.

You know exactly what I mean … Moving sucks. Our tenants schedule a weekend, borrow or rent a truck, break something, lose something, hurt their back, get in a fight with their spouse—all before they walk in our door. Being cognizant of and sensitive to this fact is a key to self-storage success. Prospects want to be taken care of quickly and efficiently, so they can get through the battle of moving and whatever else they have going on.

More than being empathetic about our customers’ circumstances, we need to understand at least something about who they are as people. The 55-year-old tenant in a well-established home will likely interact with us a differently than a 20-something whose apartment is too small for their surfboard. Your staff must be able to serve all audiences well. Relating with our average customer allows us to choose the best places and ways to be noticed when the need for storage arises.

Commandment 2: Thou Shalt Market Vigorously

Lazy marketing has become the norm in the self-storage industry. Too often, “more marketing” means increasing a number on a screen from, say, $30 per day to $40. As if marketing is just transactional! But your efforts should extend beyond the internet. Rental decisions are made by people who care about their stuff. Cost-per-click marketing is a powerful tool, but it isn’t the only one that works.

For example, it doesn’t cost anything to donate a few empty units to a local Boy or Girl Scouts troop, a baseball team, or a high-school band, but it’ll generate goodwill connections with a multitude of future customers. I recently challenged a self-storage manager to get more five-star reviews and increase social media awareness. Her idea was to create a drawing for a holiday-themed gift basket that could only be entered by following the facility on one of its social platforms or writing a positive review. The campaign only cost $100, but in a single month, it yielded 200 additional followers and 30 five-star reviews. That’s a win!

Track your marketing results and give your self-storage managers bonuses for hitting their goals. Encourage them to use a couple hours each week to do some grassroots outreach and meet local businesses. Sponsor a sports team or host a blood drive. Take doughnuts to local schools and first responders. Pay referral fees. Earn and ask for positive reviews.

Want to be more competitive against the bigger self-storage players? Get creative, have fun and quit being lazy about marketing!

Commandment 3: Thou Shalt Focus on Excellent Service

The best self-storage managers are enthusiastic about helping people. Storage isn’t a commodity. Service matters! There’s a direct correlation between the number of positive online reviews an operator has and number of move-ins they get each month. Think about it: If you’re planning a vacation and one rental house has 12 reviews with an average of 3.5 stars and the other has 250 reviews with an average of 4.8, which will you choose? You might go for the less impressive one if the price is dramatically lower, but not if the cost is similar.

Our industry, like many others, is facing a decline in personal service. It’s down everywhere you look. Automation has us all looking at our phones more than each other, which means we’re losing a lot of opportunities. Newsflash: Providing top-quality service is a chance to outpace your self-storage competition. People still matter. Excellent service leads to excellent results, makes our business more interesting and increases revenue.

I recently mystery-shopped a new manager, posing as a needy customer in dire need of storage at a good price. He wore the brand uniform but otherwise looked disheveled and unprofessional. He quoted me a rate, and when I asked if I could take advantage of any specials or discounts, he instructed me to set up the reservation through my phone, which would get me a better deal. I asked, “Can’t you just give me the better deal and save me that step?” The manager then explained that online reservations were tracked differently … as if I should care. The worst part was he didn’t care whether or not I rented, and that was obvious. Two stars, max.

Order-takers make poor salespeople, while good salespeople know that happy customers spend more. We need self-storage managers who have excellent people skills in addition to being keen online marketers. Those who care that the tenant is satisfied lead to bottom-line success; but too often, we’re staffing our stores with order-takers who are dependent upon some algorithm to generate a reservation, even when the customer is standing in front of them!

Our markets are becoming more competitive in self-storage. Competition drives innovation, and if you aren’t riding that edge, you aren’t managing your risk responsibly. Be different than your rivals by doing a better job. Serve your customers well, and let them know you’re better. You can lead your market by following my three commandments. If you don’t, I hope your competition reads this and proves me right.

Benjamin Burkhart owns StorageStudy.com, a self-storage feasibility and consulting firm based in Richmond, Virginia. He’s also a co-owner of Community Self Storage in Powhatan, Virginia, a facility he developed and now actively manages. Contact him at [email protected].