Time Management for Managers

by John Manes, StorSuite

Self storage may present some unique challenges from time to time, but the principles of time management remain the same as in any other industry and those principles are presented clearly in the late Stephen Covey’s ‘Four Quadrants of Time Management’.

Under Covey’s four quadrants, any activity is either urgent or not urgent, important or not important. We can never fully control the four quadrants for example, we never know when a crisis may arise but we can control where the majority of our focus, and our time, is spent. According to Covey and his theory has been proven accurate and successful if we focus the majority of our time and attention on quadrant II, we greatly reduce the amount of time we spend in crisis mode.

So the question becomes, “As a store manager, how do I focus the majority of my time on things that are Important but not Urgent?” The first step in the process would be to identify what daily activities in our business are Important, but not Urgent. Some examples of Important/Not Urgent would include: training and coaching, building rapport, regular lock checks, marketing, cleaning, stocking merchandise inventory, maintenance, collection calls and monitoring rates.

Let’s look at some examples of how focusing on how Important/Non Urgent reduces the time we might spend in crisis mode. A customer comes in the office to inform you that they have just vacated a 10 x 20, of which you had none available. It is Important, but not Urgent that you make that space ready to rent as soon as possible, but instead you spend the next couple of hours doing Trivia, talking on the phone on non-work related issues, listening to the radio and checking your social media. Now a customer comes in with a loaded moving truck ready to rent a 10 x 20 and when you go to show the space, you discover it’s going to take you an hour or more to get it ready. Now you’re in crisis mode. The customer is ready but you’re not. In fact, you may lose this rental. Here’s another example. You haven’t done maintenance on your golf cart in months, and now, while showing a space at the far end of the property in a pouring rain, your golf cart batteries go dead. Instant crisis and another lost rental. Here’s one more: While enjoying high occupancy for the past several years, you’ve totally neglected any efforts to market your property. Suddenly the local economy changes and you see your occupancy plunging. By ignoring the need for marketing, you now find yourself scrambling to try to drive traffic to your property, thus missing out on multiple rentals and revenue.

These are just a few examples of how neglecting to focus on what is Important but not Urgent will ultimately lead you to spending too much time in crisis mode. It should also go without saying that we need to spend a minimal amount of time focused on the unimportant Quadrant III and Quadrant IV items. Beyond these basic principles of time management, let’s look at a few things specific to our industry. We should get in the habit of making “to-do” lists, so we don’t forget something on the “Important” quadrants. Often there is more than one person performing tasks and having a list will reduce redundancy.

Learn to Prioritize

When I previously listed items that are Important/Not Urgent above, there was a reason why I listed "training and coaching” first. I believe this is the most important aspect of reducing time spent in crisis mode. Many times a crisis develops simply because a person is not equipped with the knowledge and training to make the proper decision. Often when that occurs, that person will either make the wrong decision, or no decision at all. Consistent training and coaching reduces mistakes and keeps you out of crisis mode. A simple way to prioritize would be to take your “to-do” list and rank items in priority from A, B, C. Once you have all of your A’s, B’s and C’s, you then rank each one within the category based on how many you have. Example: A1, A2, A3, B1, C1, C2, C3, C4. Create a monthly operational workload calendar for routine items such as overlocking spaces, sending out certified letters, auctions, and special projects. By having this available, you’ll be reminded of what is Important/Not Urgent, and you can utilize downtime to prepare. For example, you have a slow afternoon and by a quick glance at your operational workload calendar, you are reminded that tomorrow is the day to send out certified letters. You may spend that slow time making one last collection call or preparing envelopes, so that tomorrow when you get hit with a rush of customers, you’re not having to scramble in crisis mode to complete the task.

Communicate With Your Customers

Communication is always a key to success. Unless you are a sole proprietor managing your own property with no employees, then you are part of a team, and being part of a team makes communication essential. Create simple ways of organizing your communication, for example, use a communication binder. This will allow you to communicate with each other on different team member’s days off. Another example would be to hold weekly or monthly meetings with your team. Keep them to a half hour or an hour targeting items that will help improve Quadrant II.

If you know something will be happening at your property that may affect your tenants, communicate it to them and you may avoid having to deal with an angry customer later (Crisis). Every time you interact with a customer (unless it is routine such as taking a payment) you should note that interaction in the operating system so when the next team member is dealing with that customer, they have a history to use to make the right decision, thus preventing a crisis.

Communicate With Your Supervisor

Let your direct supervisor know what you need and what he or she can do to help you, as well as any issues at your property. It’s impossible for them to properly assist you in running your business if they are kept in the dark. By regular communication, your supervisor can then focus on things when they are Important/Not urgent, long before they become a crisis. By paying attention to how you use your time, and by allowing adequate preparation, you’ll be headed in the right direction to master your time.

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Storage Essentials Manual

Back to Basics—Industry Fundamentals

by Jennifer Jones, JKJ Marketing

Owning and operating a facility is an enormous responsibility. Some of our members have one facility with a few units while others own multiple facilities in many states. While the needs differ from facility to facility, there are core business practices that make sense for all.

Getting back to the basics of what makes the self- storage industry great is a good way to ensure the core focus of the business is still being realized.

For this series, we spoke with several members in third-party management positions who have a wide variety of experience. Together, they have 88 years of experience in the industry, have managed more than 550 facilities and worked with around 400 owners. All of those owners had different measures of success and goals for their facilities, with some in lease-up and others well established. Within the Storage Essentials Manual, you'll find numerous ideas and best practices that can be used whether you have one small facility or multiple large ones.

BEST PRACTICES

There are so many things to consider when running your facility. If you’re in a major urban area like Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio or Houston, you’re probably seeing a lot of competition. What used to work may not anymore. Many of you are facing competition from the REITs, which report they are increasing their marketing budgets around an average of 25 percent.

So how can you set your facility apart? Do you spend money to make money? Do you increase your marketing budget, or make capital improvements? Knowing the right way to move forward and where to invest your time, money and energy is key to competing in an overbuilt market.

“On one hand, this business is incredibly straightforward: rent units, make money (lots of it at that),” laughs Sarah Cole with Oakcrest Management. “On the other hand, if you invest the time, training and money to ensure that you and your staff are properly trained and have the needed tools to be successful, the investment pays for itself many times over and allows you to sleep better at night.”

“We recommend setting a clearly defined standard or procedure for maintenance, operations, leases, etc.,” says Katie Cowen with Move It Storage. “If you have a clearly-defined process to guide your staff, you’ve set a standard that they know they have to adhere to. “You need to stay on top of things much more than you did in the past because it’s much easier for tenants to find storage now than it ever has been before. I saw a statistic this week that there are more storage facilities in the U.S. than there are Starbucks and McDonald’s combined. I have no idea if that’s actually accurate, since you can’t trust Internet memes for news, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is.

“Competition is fierce now, and you can’t get by with ‘good enough’ anymore. You have to be great to succeed in the overbuilt market that we’re currently in, and this can mean needing to make significant physical improvements to your location if you want to keep up.

“Another factor now is the cost of hiring good help is getting steeper every day. The strong economy is creating a scarcity of entry-level workers and the days of a $9- or $10- per-hour property manager seem to be well behind us. We’re seeing major metro area salaries in the $13-16 hourly wage level lately, with or without an apartment onsite to offer.”

“Agility is key,” says Monty Rainey of RPM Storage Management. “People tend to think of self storage as a static industry, but you really need to be ready to change tactics at a moment’s notice. What worked a month ago may not work today and what works at one facility may not work in a different demographic.” 

INVENTORY

Keep a rolling inventory of clean units, preferably two of each size, so you have ready-to-show units of every size in which you have a vacancy. Highlight the units on your vacancy report so all employees can easily reference available units.

MAINTENANCE

The most important maintenance tip is setting a schedule and adhering to it.

•  Clean air filters on HVAC units every 30 to 60 days, depending on time of year.

•  Set your HVAC thermostats to cool to 80 degrees and heat to 50 degrees. The objective is to keep the temperature in the range to protect stored contents, but not the same range you would keep an apartment or office. This saves energy and money.

•  Keep the unit door tracks (and any exposed springs) lubricated to make the doors easy to open and prevent broken springs.

•  Change the rubber gasket at the bottom of the door when it gets brittle to allow it to seal out dust.

•  Keep the hall floors dry mopped weekly and wet-polished as needed to keep the halls bright and shiny.

•  Perform daily walk-arounds/lock checks for security and to be visible to customers. A "nice but nosy" manager can help prevent problems before they happen and should always work to establish good rapport with customers.

•  Keep up your property’s curb appeal. If kept clean and well-manicured with professional, friendly signage, it can help generate leases from drive-by traffic.

•  Consider using a support ticket system if you have several facilities or a large facility. This allows your maintenance professional to know what tools might be needed before heading to the store. It also allows tracking of high-priority items.

•  Keep the office area and the approach to the office looking fresh and clean. Often, owners who have had a facility for years let it look less than its best. Look at your facility with a fresh set of eyes.

•  Keep signage as friendly as possible. Don't go overboard on rules signs.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

•  Treat others the way you want to be treated.

•  Respect everyone; it goes a long way.

•  Use scripts to develop managers’ communications skills.

•  Prepare a general escalation or upset customer document for dealing with difficult customers later in the customer life cycle.

•  Role-play difficult situations with managers to teach them the best responses, practices and reactions.

LEASE

•  Use a standard lease, standard addendums, and a scripted lease explanation. It is helpful in getting customers to understand and adhere to their lease agreements.

•  Perform regular lease audits to ensure that you have 100-percent lease compliance at your facility.

OPERATIONS

•  Have a clearly-defined operations manual—it is essential. If you don’t have one, TSSA has a very good basic operations manual that can be purchased. With minimal effort, you can make additions/revisions to make it your own.

•  Perform a very comprehensive audit every month that includes property inspection, inventory, lease reviews, auction file reviews and a review of the financials.

•  Have managers shop competitors by actually driving by the facilities to see what is new/different.

•  Have a third party conduct telephone and in-person shopping to see how your facility is being represented.

•  Focus on rental rates just as much as occupancy—both are important.

•  Take time to have meaningful, unrushed conversations with your managers to let them know how much they are appreciated. A good manager makes a huge difference.

MARKETING

Marketing is really about staying on top of things and finding what works for your property.

“Marketing self storage is inherently different than most businesses,” says Rainey. “You’re not going to have much luck convincing someone who doesn’t need one to rent a storage unit. The key to marketing a facility is to put your name in front of that potential customer so that in six months, when the decision is made to clean out the garage, your storage business is the one they automatically think of. They’ve already been to your property when you had that event (car wash, garage sale, food drive, etc.) and already know your facility is well-run and maintained.”

Ultimately, as Tron Jordheim with Store Here Management says, “Every market is a bit different, and every facility has its own characteristics and quirks. There is a ‘right mix’ of people and technology for each site. The trick is to find the right mix for your particular needs.“

Processes are very important. If you have solid processes that are well suited to a particular site, and you follow those processes, things will run more smoothly and be easier to track and audit.

MARKETING

Getting it Right, from SEO, Technology to LED Lighting

One of the key things that helps people find you when they need you is marketing. There’s digital marketing, social media marketing, grassroots marketing and traditional marketing. The REITs are increasing their digital marketing budget by around 25 percent this year to dominate online searches.

So how on earth can you compete with their scale and budget?

SEO (search engine optimization) is incredibly important when someone Googles a term like “self storage near me” and gets a search return with ads (at the top of the page), location results with maps (next) and organic search returns. Improving SEO is a long-term strategy; gains do not happen overnight and it takes consistent effort. However, if you do it correctly, you can make significant gains in moving your facility to first page results instead of being hidden on the third or 10th page in a digital ghostland.  As an example, Tiger Self Storage in Porter, Texas moved up to the No. 3 and No. 4 spots on page one from page two on Google for two top search terms using a combination of SEO and PPC, so it can be done with the right strategy and tactics depending on your market. This was accomplished by a new faster website that was optimized for SEO, relevant and optimized content and backlinks in a few short months.

PPC (pay-per-click) is a form of internet marketing, the most common of which is search engine advertising, which you may have heard of as Google AdWords. For example, if someone types in “storage facility near me” and you bid on that keyword, then your ad may show up on their Google search. It’s referred to as “pay-per-click” because each time someone clicks on that ad, you are charged a fee (the amount depends on how competitive that search term is and how relevant and targeted your ad campaign is). Ads chosen by Google are chosen based on the amount of the keyword bid and the advertiser's quality score which is determined by how relevant your site is to the search term, your click-through rate and the quality of your landing pages. When you are working on SEO, which is a slow process, PPC is a great way to get quicker results. In effect, you are buying visibility.

Gately says, “Every facility has a website, hosted by a third-party website marketing company. We believe SEO is very important. We evaluate results monthly and track the number of website visits and eventual leases we get to determine the return on our investment.

“We use tracker numbers on our website and for most advertising to be able to identify the number of calls from any source. The tracker number forwards the caller to your facility, keeping track of each call.

“We use PPC for most properties, especially new facilities in lease-up. We adjust the PPC depending on results and the recommendations of our website provider.

“For new facilities, we invest in prominent LED signs with the capability of changing messages/ graphics. For all facilities, we invest in the largest signage allowed by local code, including banners to promote specials. We schedule our managers to do off-site marketing about two hours per week, targeting area apartment managers, retirement communities, competitors (to promote cross referrals) and major area employers.

“In late spring or early summer, we will send out a postcard mailer for properties in lease-up. Most of our marketing is year-round to keep consistency.”

Rainey says, “Keep it local and know who your customer is. Ninety percent of your customer base either lives or works within a 3-mile radius. Don’t waste time and money marketing to people who live far outside that radius. Limit your promotional giveaways to items people will use over and over and not end up in a junk drawer somewhere, never to be seen again.” This would include items like stainless steel water bottles, magnetic grocery list pads, letter openers and staple removers, and of course the standard items, such as ink pens and keychains.

Cowen says, “We focus a lot of effort online, but we focus just as much effort on the facility itself. All of the online marketing in the world won’t help a run-down or trashy-looking facility succeed. We consider maintaining the curb appeal of our facilities as a key item in our marketing program. Depending on the area, we may also do local marketing in the form of print ads, billboards or local sponsorships.”

Cole says, “You can’t just pick one marketing avenue, you need to do a little of everything to stay visible. We aren't an industry that people are shopping for daily, like a restaurant or grocery store. However, if you keep a visible presence in your community, when they need storage, they'll remember you and come to your facility.

“Therefore, we do online (Craigslist, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+), grassroots (flyers, tote bags, mugs, pens) and take them to different businesses, and we host charity events (pet adoptions, car washes, BBQs).”

At the end of the day, you have to know what you want to accomplish with your marketing. Tie your marketing with your overall business objectives and set realistic goals to be successful. Digital marketing with re-targeting ads, website analytics and more can help lead people down a buyer’s journey to your facility. One of the keys with any marketing strategy is knowing your audience (potential customer pool) and developing a marketing strategy that is targeted to them.

TRAINING

Tailoring to Your Facility

When you consider what a manager can and can’t do for your business, you realize how important training and hiring really are. A manager is part of your brand—the personality of your facility, the person who makes sure things are working properly. Depending on the size of your facility, they can wear many hats from marketing and maintenance to operations and revenue.

Trusted Self Storage Professionals has new assistant managers work with an experienced manager for two to three weeks before being scheduled to work alone. New managers work with an experienced manager for several weeks before being assigned their property. “We have one site that does most of our training, which makes for consistency,” says Gately. The manager doing the training is a strong manager who likes training others and uses a written checklist of all tasks to be trained that must be completed and sent to the property supervisor. Good training is critical to achieving operational excellence and to have confident, competent employees.”

“Move It is larger than some of the other operators, so we’ve used our benefit of scale to set up an online learning management system (LMS),” says Cowen. “Our managers get a combination of live, one-on-one training, training via review of an operations manual, and training via modules in the LMS. The LMS modules can include written lessons with a test afterward, video lessons with a test afterward, or a combination of both items. We also utilize training resources and certification from our software provider (SiteLink) and our ancillary truck rental services (U-Haul/Penske).”

Cole says that at Oakcrest Management, each new manager gets one week of training with a seasoned manager, two days of customer service phone skill training and one week in their store with a seasoned manager/ supervisor. “By the third week, they should be able to handle day-to-day functions on their own. On lien process days (NOC, cut lock, etc.), a supervisor will be with them to make sure notices are done properly and the new manger is learning how to do them properly. Oakcrest Management also has quarterly training webinars on various topics, such as collections, closing the sale and auction process.”

So, what do you do if you don’t have multiple facilities or don’t want to hire third-party management? You can write your own training manual. Each day you are performing a task, write down your thoughts and start creating checklists. Implement some of the tactics used above at your facility. You may only hire a new manager once in a blue moon or you may have higher turnover. Creating a training manual, although a time-consuming process, can ultimately save time when you hire a new manager.

Creating checklists for leasing, maintenance (as well as schedules), operations, procedures, new hire orientation, marketing and more will ensure your new manager is aware of your systems and expectations.

At RPM, training never ends. They have a designated trainer who gives personal, interactive training following a two-week program. At each subsequent store visit by a district manager, time is set aside for ongoing training for the entire staff. RPM also provides employees with paid tuition for online business management related courses.

PRICING

Finding and Setting Value

While pricing is certainly covered in other articles, it’s a big topic. So we want to call special attention to it. Be sure to look at the other articles for revenue management and how to use software to improve your rates.

Many things should be considered when determining unit rates. “Price should be based on a combination of market rates, quality of the facility and amenities offered,” says Cowen. “Price alone is no way to judge a storage unit because a 10’ x 10’ climate-controlled unit on the fourth floor with no elevator access has a completely different value than the same unit on the first floor right next to an entrance door.”

Cole says, “We base it off of availability and competitor pricing by size. If we are below 70 percent occupied on a size, then we may price it a little under a competitor, but if we are 100 percent occupied on a size, we may price it above other competitors.”

Gately concurs, “We have found on existing facilities with stabilized occupancy, the most important factor in pricing is your property's occupancy on each unit type. We keep pushing rates higher on any unit type that has an occupancy of 90 percent or better. Even if a competitor is $20 cheaper on the same size unit, we will keep inching our rate higher, so long as our occupancy on that size is holding 90 percent or better.

“We also use premium location pricing on certain units. For example, say $10 higher on first floor than upper floors or $5 higher to be near the elevator.

“Manager training on setting rates is very important. A well-trained manager understands that most prospects are looking for overall value (not just low price), so the manager emphasizes the benefits when talking prices.”

“Don’t use a broad scope for pricing,” says Rainey. “When a store is struggling with occupancy, you may have a tendency to lower prices. While this may be needed for some unit types, you may have other types that are more than 90 percent occupied and those rates may even need to be increased. Each unit size and type is its own product and should be based on supply and demand, not on overall store occupancy.”

AUTOMATION

Why You Should Consider Automating at Your Facility

Understanding what technology can do for you and your facility can make a difference in your bottom line, bring you money that may be left on the table and streamline your operations. If you’re still using spreadsheets, they may work for you to some degree, but automating and updating your processes will allow you to have a better idea of where things stand with your facility on a daily basis and free up time to devote to other functions. The difference is like trying to light a fire by rubbing two sticks together versus using a match. Both get the job done, but one is much more efficient.

“I am a strong believer that automation makes for efficiency,” says Cowen. “Your benefit in automating everything that you can is that you know it gets done, and it frees up your manager’s time so they can focus on serving their customers and renting units.”

COMMUNICATION

“We automate functions having to do with tenant communication and revenue management,” says Gately. “We use a texting service to remind delinquent tenants about payments, which has been very successful. It saves the manager time and the tenants appreciate its convenience. We make sure our managers use it as a reminder for tenants, but not as a substitute for the manager making phone calls or sending emails on the more serious delinquent situations.

“We also use automated tenant surveys that can be scheduled to go out within a few days of move-in or move out, which are emailed to the tenant and can be sent to the manager or to the corporate office. We keep the surveys short and easy to complete and use the information to make sure we are creating a positive customer experience.”

“Our management software automates the delinquency process, late fees and automatic lien letters that are generated and emailed,” adds Cole. “All new move-ins receive an automated email welcoming them as customers and inviting them to take a survey.”

 “We automate our collection calls,” says Cowen. “Robo-type calls are used as our first call to alert tenants that units are past due. These aren’t the only calls made, but a good portion of past due tenants pay after the robo call but before our managers make their ‘live calls.’

“We have an integrated SMS [text] program that is scheduled to send tenant messages for certain events on pre-defined dates. These can include past-due notices, or notices that something is happening at the location. This has been especially helpful during weather-related closure events to keep our tenants updated with issues on the property. These aren’t completely automated due to a software limitation in SiteLink, so someone has to actually hit ‘process’ to send out the notices, but once that’s done, the system generates a text to every tenant who is set to receive that particular message.

“Nothing zaps a manager’s will to live like stuffing hundreds of envelopes with letters. We use an automated mailing service that’s integrated with our software to process paper notices to our tenants. This is also an option for sending auction notices without having to go to the post office, which saves a ton of time for our managers.”

Reviews can help a facility’s reputation drastically by showing your potential customers that your current customers love you. Cole says, “Use Google Review QR codes to allow tenants to leave reviews while at the store. We created a QR code that will take tenants directly to our Google Review page for each location. When the customer is at the store renting a unit or truck, or making a payment, we ask them to scan the code and leave us a review. Because we made it so simple, our number of reviews have gone up quite a bit.”

LEADS

There’s also something to be said for instant communication and striking while the iron is hot. “We don’t have missed call leads because they automatically roll over to our call center rather than going to an answering machine,” says Cole. “When a customer makes an appointment to come to the store to rent a unit, there is an auto- mated text message that is sent out two hours before their appointment.”

Cole’s website automatically emails completed and incomplete reservations to the manager, district manager and home office to follow up with the customer and track the reservation lead.

REVENUE MANAGEMENT

“Most management software programs now offer a revenue management feature, which we have found to be a real money maker and time saver,” says Gately. “For example, you can program the software to raise rents on vacant units by a set percentage when the occupancy on any unit type exceeds a defined target (e.g., raise rents by 6 percent on any size that is 90 percent occupancy or higher). During the busy leasing season, this can really be a big help to the manager, as the software will automatically raise the rate without the manager having to even notice that the occupancy target has been achieved.

“This revenue management feature is also very helpful in prompting rate increases on occupied units. For example, you can instruct the software to raise rents on any occupied unit after 12-months’ tenancy by a certain percentage. You can allow the rate increases to be limited to the current street rate or not. The manager can get the proposed list of rent increases each month for review. The manager can be given the authority to approve the rent increases or modify as deemed appropriate.”

“We use a website scrubbing soft- ware to monitor our competitors’ rents and specials and any changes. The software is inexpensive and provides regular prompts of any rate changes with comps in your defined market trade area. The pricing is laid out in an easy-to-use grid, showing rates by competitor and unit type. In addition, we have the managers contact their counterparts on five or so comps each month by phone to trade notes on the occupancy, rates, specials and market info. The managers should drive by their comps at least quarterly.

Cowen also uses software to help with competitive pricing. “We use a revenue management program that ‘scrapes’ online rates for our competitors and compiles them into a list so we’re able to easily see our low, high and median competitor rates in any given market.”

PAYMENTS

“We have an automated payment prompt that customers can use to make their payment over the phone,” says Cowen. “This saves our managers or call center agents from having to talk to multiple customers who are just wanting to make a payment and frees them up to handle other customer issues or new inquiries.

MAINTENANCE

“We even use automation for maintenance internally,” says Cole. “We have a maintenance ticket system where the manager creates a ticket and it sends it to the maintenance personnel. They repair what needs to be repaired and the manager receives a notification when the job is done and the ticket is resolved.”

Technology has come a long way and continues to allow us to streamline things that we previously handled manually. A lot of times, the use of technology can give us an edge on competition as well by giving us data at our fingertips to help us make smarter and quicker decisions.

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Making Taxes Painless Starts with Clean Accounting

by Magen Smith, CPA

No one wants to pay more in taxes than they should, self-storage owners included. Working hard on your self-storage business every day of the year only to hand over a large check to the government on tax day is painful and unpleasant. However, seeking to minimize taxes smartly should be the goal for every business owner. Spending $60,000 on an unnecessary truck to save only $20,000 in taxes is a waste of $40,000. Too many business owners try to spend money to save taxes. Instead, focus on maximizing tax savings on the money already spent.

Below are some painless suggestions that will help you keep more of your profits this year.

Enter Income Correctly

Making taxes painless starts with having clean accounting records. Many of my clients have saved thousands of dollars in taxes each year simply by recording their income correctly. Income should be entered from the self-storage management system and then reconciled from the bank account. Far too often, all bank deposits are entered as income. These deposits likely include sales tax, security deposits and other potentially non-taxable items. Entering your income using the self-storage management system ensures revenue is entered correctly as rent, late fees, administrative fees, sales tax and so forth. It is also an excellent way to check if all of the money shown as collected in the self-storage management system was actually deposited into the bank account.

There are multiple ways of entering the income from the self- storage management system into the accounting system. Most self-storage management systems provide reports for daily deposits which can be entered into the accounting system. Using a journal entry report from the self-storage management system or integrating directly with your accounting system are two options.

Enter Expenses Correctly

Once the income in your accounting system is correct, add the expense information. Make sure all of the business’s bills and bill payments, payroll information, refund checks written to tenants, payments on bank loans, and owners draw amounts are added into the accounting system.

Excluding reductions in liability or changes in equity, the money spent in your business falls into two buckets: expenses or assets. Common expenses are advertising, dues and subscriptions, office expenses, payroll, repairs and maintenance and utilities.

Assets are items which will be used for years and should be depreciated. When buildings, vehicles, large office furniture, improvements to the building that extend the useful life, or machinery and equipment are purchased, they are shown on the balance sheet as an asset. Each year, depreciation expense is recorded until the asset is fully depreciated.

Depreciation rules constantly change, so it is wise to consult your tax professional to ensure that all assets are properly recorded. A common tax strategy in self storage is cost segregation. Many professionals will perform cost segregation studies to determine if it is a wise investment or not, but the basic strategy is using the useful life of each component to depreciate the asset. This will commonly increase depreciation in the first few years. Be aware, depreciation expense will eventually run out, and taxable income will increase in later years. Consult with your tax professional to determine if cost segregation is best for you.

Review Your Balance Sheet for Errors

Reviewing the balance sheet is an excellent way to save tax money and reduce personal property taxes if your state has them. I consulted with one client who had a building missing on his depreciation schedule for ten years so he missed all the depreciation expenses he could have taken. No one ever thought to determine what was included in the purchase price and it was all coded to land, which isn’t subject to depreciation.

Your tax CPA should be able to provide you with your depreciation schedule. Go through each item and make sure it still exists in the business. Also, look around at the assets and make sure they are on the schedule. Common items that will appear on a depreciation schedule are buildings, building improvements, parking lot improvements, vehicles, golf carts, computers, office furniture and any machinery the business owns

Working With an Accountant

The most painless and comprehensive way to make sure all of the right information is in the accounting system is to have a CPA familiar with self storage handle your accounting.

Once all of the accounting information is properly entered in the accounting system, it is critical that bank and credit card statements be reconciled. It is also wise to tie income numbers back to the self-storage management system to make sure the information is properly recorded. You can certainly do all of this yourself, but using a CPA who is familiar with self storage throughout the year can give you timely, relevant statements which will help grow your business.

Once it is time to prepare taxes, your accountant should provide your tax professional with the year-end statements, along with all supporting documents to make tax filing as painless as possible. Because your tax professional is looking at clean accounting records, he will be less likely to ask you to rummage around for some receipt from 11 months ago that you have misplaced. If the records are well-organized for the tax preparer, he can focus on advising on tax issues and helping plan for the future, instead of doing detailed accounting work. The best time to save taxes is throughout the year, not right before the filing deadline in April. By that point, it is too late to change the previous year. Meet with your tax CPA in the summer for a mid-year review and again in the fall so they can estimate the taxes that will be owed and give you advice on any last-minute changes to minimize your tax obligation.


Magen Smith started as a self-storage manager and went on to become a licensed CPA. Her CPA firm focuses on self-storage companies by helping them with accounting, getting started in the self-storage industry, raising rates, improving operations and providing audits so they know their business is running properly. She has online courses on revenue management and how to read Sitelink reports available on her website.

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When Storms Strike: Key Takeaways to Help You Prepare

by Taressa Dominguez
11/18/2020

When disasters strike or hurdles arise, they can be unpredictable. And though you may not know the timing or extent of impact, you can prepare your facility and staff to tackle whatever comes at them by creating a plan of action that is precise enough for your staff and tenants know what to do and expect, but is also flexible enough to adapt to the situation. At the Bigger Ideas in Storage Conference, the Move It Self Storage team of Tim Springer, Tom Maxfield, Katie Cowen and Jesse Munoz shared their expertise on how to respond to disasters. With about half of their properties within 30 miles from the coast, preparing for a storm is a constant and top priority for Move It. Here are some key takeaways from their session for when a storm rolls in.

• Plan ahead and prepare for the worst so you can make the best decisions possible while evaluating your risk.
• Prioritize communication with your staff and tenants. If you have advanced warning of a storm, plan on frequent and regular communications so that staff and tenants are kept apprised of details and your disaster plan as the situation evolves.
• Notify vendors/work crews before the storm that you may need help to get up and running after the storm.
• If you have time when preparing for a storm, file a “notice only claim” with your insurance so that you have a claim number ready in case you need it.
• Power down important mechanical features at your facility, like gates and elevators. This will help ensure a tenant does not get stuck in an elevator and that the gate doesn’t become a safety hazard.
• Make sure to notify tenants via phone, text, email and website of your evolving plan so that they can make their own plans. Tenants may be storing their emergency supplies and need to know when they can access them.
• If you anticipate an increase in demand after the storm, evaluate your marketing spend. You will likely be able to save money by decreasing your Pay-Per-Click (PPC) if you know your demand is about to increase organically.
• Ensure that you can do business, even in a basic way, after the storm. Consider having an “office in a box” at hand with a hotspot and TSSA paper leases included.

There is a process to responding to each stage of the storm—before, during and after. Above, we’ve focused on preparing before the storm hits, but in every stage, communicating your plan to staff and tenants is vital. We thank the Move It team and invite you to watch their full presentation, “When Disaster Strikes: Will You Flounder or Float?” on the TSSA website. If you missed the annual conference and want access to this recording and many more, you're in luck.  With the Post-Conference Pass, you will have access to 12 conference session recordings for a full year, so you can dive deeper into disaster preparedness and so many additional self-storage topics.  

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What the End of the Penny Means for Texas Self-Storage Operators

Changes in everyday currency do not happen often, but the end of penny production is one that Texas self-storage operators should have on their radar. While pennies remain legal tender, their limited availability has prompted new guidance from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts that affects how cash payments and sales tax are handled.

Why This Matters to Storage Operators

For most self-storage businesses, cash transactions represent a small but important part of daily operations. When exact change is unavailable, uncertainty around rounding and tax collection can create confusion at the counter and potential compliance concerns. The comptroller’s guidance is designed to provide clarity and consistency statewide.

Comptroller Guidance on Cash Payments

According to STAR Accession No. 202512001M, the Texas Comptroller will continue to accept pennies as long as they remain legal tender. However, when pennies are not available, the agency may round a cash payment down to the nearest nickel and accept that amount as full payment. For example, if a taxpayer owes $90.04 in rent and wants to pay in cash (and pennies are unavailable), a payment of $90 satisfies the obligation.

Sales Tax and Rounding Rules

Sales tax must always be calculated on the exact sales price before any rounding occurs. If a tenant pays in cash and exact change cannot be made, operators may round the total amount collected to the nearest nickel. Minor rounding differences within a nickel generally do not require an adjustment to reported tax. It is important to note that rounding should be applied consistently and only when necessary. Rounding beyond the nearest nickel may be treated as a change to the sales price and could affect tax liability.

Electronic Payments Are Not Affected

Payments made by credit card, electronic transfer or check are not affected by penny shortages. These transactions must still be processed to the exact cent, with no rounding.

What TSSA Members Should Do

Operators should their cash-handling procedures, train onsite staff on appropriate rounding practices and ensure point-of-sale systems continue to calculate sales tax accurately. As always, consistency and documentation are key to maintaining compliance. If you have questions about how this guidance applies to your operation, TSSA encourages you to consult with your legal or tax adviser or reach out to the Texas Comptroller’s office for clarification.

Please Note: This summary was generated with the assistance of an AI language model.

Original Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts STAR System. Click here to read the full memo for further guidance.

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Developing Your Disaster Plan

by Grow Your Storage, LLC, Members Lee Fredrick, Denise Bowley and Brandon Grebe

On July 13, 2016 a building at one of our facilities became engulfed in flames. The building was a total loss and virtually every tenant experienced complete loss as well.

We have learned a lot through this process and hope our story will help you develop a best-practice plan to handle a disaster such as a fire.

IMMEDIATE STEPS TO TAKE – STORE MANAGER

• Call 911.
• Call the facility owner or your immediate supervisor.
• Lock the access points after the situation is contained.
• Email all tenants to notify them that access will be limited until further notice and be sure to mention which building was on fire, so you are not bombarded with phone calls from tenants worried about their belongings.
• Call all tenants affected by the fire and explain the situation. Know ahead of time what information you can provide (but also what you will not provide) and don’t make any assumptions regarding cause, responsibility, loss, insurance coverage, etc.

 IMMEDIATE STEPS TO TAKE – OWNER/PROPERTY SUPERVISOR

• Call your insurance agent to initiate a claim.
• Call your fellow owners, partners and shareholders.
• Speak to your store manager about not answering any questions from the insurance adjusters or media.

By order of the fire marshal, our facility was closed to all traffic and we were required to have 24-hour security until the burned RVs were removed from our driveway, which took three weeks.

We incurred numerous expenses which had to be paid prior to the insurance company settling the claim with us. Keep a detailed record of all expenses associated with the emergency and insurance claim.

EXPENSES PAID PRIOR TO INSURANCE SETTLEMENT

• Wrecker service (fire department ordered stored vehicles to be towed from the building)
• Temporary fencing
• Security
• Extra staffing
• Door removal
• Locks and chains – to secure temporary fencing
• Testing required by the building engineer
• Volunteer fire department services

EXPECTED EXPENSES

• Demolition
• Cleanup
• Engineering (new building)
• Permitting
• General contractor fee
• Steel, fabrication, delivery, erection
• Electric
• Lighting
• Overhead doors
• Restoration of buildings affected by smoke damage
• Sprinkler system (code update – luckily our insurance covers the cost of any code updates)

In addition to the expenses we have already paid and those we anticipate, we have lost revenue because of the fire. The building had to be demolished.

Going through a fire can be traumatic on your staff and certainly on your tenants. It is important to train your staff about how to handle a disaster BEFORE it occurs. Below is a list of items you should have in place now.

BE PREPARED

• Import a form letter into your property management software stating access to the facility is closed because of unforeseen circumstances, so your manager can easily email tenants.
• Check your insurance coverages for lost revenue, code updates and volunteer fire department invoices. Verify each building has the appropriate value and square footage.
• Discuss how to handle a disaster with your manager.
• Require your manager to keep a printed current rent roll, which includes telephone numbers, at all times, preferably kept off site.
• Reserve a minimum of $25,000 for upfront out-of-pocket expenses for clean-up.
• Perform a lease audit quarterly.
• Require tenants to purchase or provide proof of insurance on their stored goods.

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Turn Your Neighbors Into Loyal Customers
6 Tips to Earn the Business of Your Community

by Aytcha Katun-Williams

Do you know where your self-storage customers come from? Most of your customers are located within a seven mile radius of your facility. Given that the majority of your customers are local, you will need to know how to attract local businesses and residents to pick your local storage facility over your competition. Below are six quick tips on how to gain the business of the community that your facility is located within.

1. Get the Attention of Your Neighbors

Self-storage property owners and managers have been utilizing community involvement to create a working relationship within their neighborhoods for a long time. While charitable giving is not a new concept to the self-storage industry, let's look at some creative ways to take your community involvement to the next level:  

• Many storage facilities allow a small percentage of their units to be used rent-free by local charities, churches, schools and alike. In return, these organizations spread the word by mentioning this charitable giving on their website, during their events, but most importantly by word of mouth.
• A storage facility in North Bethesda, Maryland has each drive-up unit door painted with unique artwork. The facility owner hosts a community art day every few months where artists come and paint the storage doors with an art theme of community charitable events. The event is an open house, food and drinks are served while the residents and businesses of the area view the artwork created by local artists. Not only does the facility support local artists, but it also increases its curb appeal while bringing new traffic to the storage facility.
• How about allowing your facility to be a collection point for a charity organization or for electronic recycling? You can opt to collect for your local Food Bank, the Salvation Army or another organization. Most charity organizations have containers that they deliver to your location and do pick-ups on request. They then advertise your facility through all their marketing channels as a drop of location. Electronic recycling companies will need you to allocate one 10’ x 10’ drive up storage unit but they will do the rest of the work to advertise your storage facility as a drop of location and will schedule pick ups at your request. All of these community activities bring further visibility and new customers to your facility.

2. Know Your Local Businesses

Some owners prefer business customers, as they stay longer and are less price conscious. And, all businesses from dental offices to insurance companies need storage. Understanding how and when each different business could utilize storage will allow you to cater your sales pitch to the needs of that business. Becoming a member of local business organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce or the local Rotary Chapter is one good way to get to know local business owners. Attending the weekly meetings of these organizations and asking the right questions is crucial in finding out how you can help these businesses. What are all the different types of local businesses in your neighborhood and how can you serve them? It’s important to be able to think outside of the box. Your facility may be near multiple retirement communities with new residents who will need storage. Building that relationship with their management may mean steady and long-term storage rentals for your business.

3. Support Your Local Businesses

Giving back to your business community is one of the best word-of-mouth marketing methods. Offering storage units to local businesses at a discount or renting storage units to use as a workshop, selecting a local moving-supplies vendor for your point-of-sale items are all great ways of showing your support. Have you considered selling locally made ancillary products at your storage facility? You can sell scented car fresheners and other locally made products to show that you keep everything local.

4. Cross Marketing to the Next Level

Cross marketing is a tested and proven method for local marketing. Your local restaurants, insurance and real estate brokers and other businesses will gladly exchange business cards and flyers for cross promotion efforts. How about combining your next community event as a networking opportunity for the local businesses? Consider inviting several of your local businesses to be present at your next community event to network with the community and to advertise. Local business involvement will be key to a successful property-hosted event, with the incentives being self-evident.

5. Let Your Managers Get Creative

Leaving some lead room and allocating a small “local marketing” budget for the managers are key. When visiting local apartment buildings or retirement communities, take a basket of muffins or cookies. People love treats, and treats will help you to stand out above your empty-handed competition.

6. Grass Roots Marketing Via Social Media

Are you utilizing social media channels as a form of grass roots marketing? Social media is a free way to reach your target market and take your community relationships to the next level. Consider using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media channels to announce new local business tenants, to publicize your support of your local businesses or your next community event. Data shows that the ever-increasing number of social media users are checking their accounts several times a day. What better way to announce your support of local businesses, discounts to local residents and more! If you think about it, when working within our communities we go back to the basics. Whether it is a person or an organization, having their best interest in mind and finding creative ways to help results in their appreciation of what you have to offer, and brings new business.

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Setting Sale

Questions to Consider Before You Jump on Board to Sell Your Facility

by Michael Johnson, Bellomy & Co.

What should an owner look for when he/she is interested in selling?

The owner should seek the advice and feedback of a self-storage broker on pricing conditions based on the current market. Brokers can walk an owner through the marketing process and explain what goes into selling a self-storage facility. Other items an owner should look for include estimated closing costs and an overall timeline. After getting this information, owners should consider if it fits within his or her investment goals and expectations.

When should an owner sell?

This answer comes down to many individual characteristics. Several market factors can make it an attractive time for an owner to sell. A few examples of these market factors are favorable cap rates, interest rates and supply/demand within the facilities sub-market. When cap rates are low, prices are high. When interest rates are low, there are more buyers willing to take advantage of the lower cost of capital. However, the majority of sellers are often forced to sell because of life events, such as relocation, health problems and divorce.

What are the peak conditions for selling?

Several factors determine peak conditions for selling (also known as a seller’s market).

Examples are:

High demand combined with a shallow inventory of properties for sale. In this type of environment, there are more buyers than sellers. Many of the large operators and REITs have been aggressively buying in the top 50 MSAs to build up scale/efficiencies in those markets.

Low cap rates and financing readily available with rock-bottom interest rates.

Historical occupancy and NOI growth with little new construction within five miles.

Buyers using pro forma underwriting standards to determine the value.

Do you need to be fully stabilized when you sell?

Short answer: No. At certain times in the market cycle, buyers give the owner credit for unleased units. However, it is more advantageous for an owner to be stabilized when he or she decides to sell. This is an income-based business, meaning the higher the income, the higher the purchase price.

How do you get your facility ready to sell?

When getting a facility ready to sell, it is important for owners to focus on three areas that can pay off in the long run:

Improving revenue

Owners should look at their rent roll to determine how long it has been since raising prices for both existing tenants and street rates. This is an easy way to pick up additional income. A five to 10 percent increase every 12 months is standard. Getting delinquent tenants current on their rent or getting them to move out is also important to maximize revenue.

Reducing expenses

Owners should take the time to identify and clean up expenses. Have real estate taxes been appealed? Are marketing costs in line with market averages? It is important to identify personal expenses such as cell phone, car and health insurance payments. Owners who can identify their facility expenses make their income statement more appealing.

Improving facility appearance

Quality sells, so an owner should focus on the general aesthetics of the facility. In residential real estate, it’s called “curb appeal” and it’s no less important with your facility. Dusting hallways, cleaning doors, cutting grass and removing weeds are a few small things that make a difference in the overall appearance. Repairing lights, replacing damaged doors and adding a fresh coat of paint are larger items the seller should focus on. A coat of paint goes a long way.

How do you structure a deal?

Owners should consider working with a professional self-storage broker who has a proven track record selling storage facilities. Brokers can use their expertise to help structure a deal with the highest price and best terms. An experienced broker who specializes in this unique market has a database of qualified, interested buyers.

How can you buy in a seller’s market?

Over the past decade, the self-storage industry has evolved dramatically, and keeping up with the change can be difficult for some facilities/operators. Even though prices can be at all-time highs in a seller’s market, buyers take advantage of their large amounts of capital with low interest rates. Buyers tend to look for value-add opportunities to increase their bottom line. A few examples include raising prices on existing tenants, investing in online marketing and expanding the facility to add more units. Buyers who understand the operating fundamentals of the business can effectively purchase properties in both seller’s and buyer’s markets.

How can you sell in a buyer’s market?

Prices in a buyer’s market often suffer due to economic conditions and less favorable financing terms. Of course, all owners prefer to sell for the highest price possible. Whether it is a life event or other factor causing an owner to sell in a less-favorable buyer’s market, it is important that he or she focus on the following:

Revenue management

By keeping apprised of competitor pricing, owners can ensure their units are being rented at a price the market bears. The value of the property directly relates to the income the facility produces.

Property inspection

Owners should complete any minor deferred maintenance items and make the property as presentable as possible. Owners should let potential buyers know of any outstanding maintenance items on the front-end, so they do not have a reason to reduce their offer during their due diligence.

Pricing

Owners should seek out a professional storage broker who will give them pricing feedback based on current market conditions. There are more properties for sale than purchasers in a buyer’s market, so

it is important not to have unrealistic pricing expectations.

Is it better to build or buy?

This is always a popular question. Loans are readily available for people looking to build a new facility or acquire an existing facility. Both options have their own pros and cons. Take a closer look below to help determine which may be a better fit.

Building new

Ground-up construction gives you the benefit of creating and customizing everything from start to finish, or from the initial design to the way the property is managed. Overall, it is a riskier investment to build new because you will be starting at zero percent occupancy with expensive carrying costs and negative cash flow. However, there is greater profit to be made on the back-end when the property is stabilized. The overall timeline of building new is another potential drawback. Finding the right land, getting permits and approvals, having design work done and experiencing unexpected site conditions and other unforeseen issues can delay the project.

Buying existing

The immediate cash flow from a stabilized facility is a major benefit for individuals looking for a turnkey investment. A potential con for buying an existing property is the time it can take to find that opportunity that fits all of the individualized investment criteria—size, price, location, cap rate, etc. The success of the self-storage industry has been well-publicized for some time now, and competition is very strong from the self-storage REITs and other large private equity group that have been able to pay more than the average investor can because of their lower borrowing costs.

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fIVE SIGNS YOU NEED THIRD-PARTY MANAGEMENT FOR YOUR FACILITY

by Zach Watson, White Label Storage
September 18, 2025

Running a self-storage facility in Texas comes with both opportunity and challenge. Demand remains strong across many metros, but competition, rising expenses and shifting customer expectations have created pressure that owners can’t always tackle alone.

For many operators—whether you own a single property or a growing portfolio—the question isn’t if you’ll hit roadblocks, but how you’ll respond when they come.

Third-party management can be the difference between a facility that struggles to keep pace and one that thrives. Here are five clear signs it may be time to bring in a professional management partner.

1. OCCUPANCY HAS STALLED

It’s not uncommon for operators to hit a wall after lease-up. After an initial rush of tenants in desperate need of storage, move-ins slow and occupancy stagnates.

This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as a middle plateau because it typically occurs when occupancy is between 60-80%. The facility isn’t empty, but there’s still meaningful room to grow.

Why does this happen? It could be any number of factors:

1. Your marketing funnel isn’t optimized for conversions. People come to your website, but not enough of them turn into leads.
2. Your Google Business Profile isn’t set up to appear in local SEO results, and you’re losing traffic to competitors.
3. Inconsistent lead follow up. If someone calls your facility or doesn’t complete their booking online, you need to follow up—fast. After an hour, the chances of turning a lead into a customer plummet.

Get a Proven Marketing Plan

Marketing isn’t the only reason occupancy stalls; pricing matters too, and we’ll cover that later. However, effective marketing can be a catalyst for restarting stalled occupancy.

Third-party management companies typically have marketing strategies that will instantly provide a lift in conversions and move-ins. By managing a portfolio of facilities in different submarkets, these operators have a body of knowledge about what works and what doesn’t. They’ve seen the results.

Outsourcing your self-storage marketing not only takes the guesswork out of the equation, it also takes the real work—hours and hours of set up, monitoring, and optimization—off your plate.

2. SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME ON OPERATIONS

We’ve talked to so many owners who thought self storage was a passive income stream, like other real estate assets. But once they bought a facility, they realized it was something totally different.

Hiring and training staff, answering phones, managing tenant issues, overseeing maintenance and dealing with delinquent accounts are a full-time job. Probably more than one full-time job.

If you’re spending all your time running the facility, there’s no time to think about how to grow the business or add another property to your portfolio. Instead of being an asset manager, you’re stuck as a site manager.

Move from Site Manager to Asset Manager

A good third-party manager can transform your quality of life. They’ll handle the day-to-day ops (and make improvements!) train staff, run customer service, automate collections, and manage the myriad of tasks you were handling before.

Owners regain their time and peace of mind, knowing their asset is in capable hands. And your costs will probably go down too thanks to process improvements.

3. PRICING DOESN'T MATCH THE MARKET

In competitive markets across Texas, like Dallas, Houston, San Antonio or growing secondary cities, rates can shift quickly. It’s all too common for owners to leave money on the table by either pricing too low or failing to adjust rates for existing tenants.

Dropping rates might seem like a logical way to attract new tenants, but it can inadvertently start a pricing war that drives the entire market down. Likewise, existing tenant rate increases (ECRI) can be powerful ways to increase revenue, but if they’re applied haphazardly, churn will spike and the negative reviews will start to roll in.

Of course, constantly monitoring the rates in your submarket takes a substantial amount of time and effort—as does measuring the effectiveness of rate changes.

Implement Data-Driven Pricing and Rate Increases

Third-party managers use advanced revenue management tools and local market data to set competitive street rates, run promotions that actually convert, and spin up a thoughtful ECRI program that tenants will tolerate.

Instead of guessing where to set pricing, you’ll know it’s optimized to capture demand without sacrificing long term profitability.

4. PERSISTENT DELINQUENCY IS AFFECTING NOI

Delinquency is one of the most frustrating parts of owning a self-storage facility. Chasing late payments, sending notices and managing auctions takes valuable time away from running the business.

What’s worse, high delinquency rates erode your net operating income (NOI) and stall your cash flow.

Automate Collections and Reduce Delinquency

Delinquency may feel like an inevitability, but it can be solved. But it means working smarter, not working harder.

Like in other aspects of facility management, third-party operators will have tried and true processes that strike a balance between collecting payments and customer service.

Technology is a major advantage here. Many facility management systems already offer automated follow-ups, but using text-to-pay and personalized payment links can optimize the payment experience and skyrocket your conversion rate. A good management partner will have a collections program ready to go, which should produce an immediate uptick in payments and a long-term reduction in delinquency. For example, at White Label Storage we’ve developed a tool called StorBill that not only improves conversion rate on collections, but also signs up tenants for autopay, reducing the likelihood they’ll be delinquent again. At some facilities, we’ve seen as high as a 75% sign up rate for autopay.

5. YOUR PORTFOLIO IS GROWING, BUT YOUR BANDWIDTH ISN'T

For owners and operators expanding from one facility to several, the complexity multiplies fast. Managing multiple sites with consistent processes, pricing, marketing and staffing is a significant challenge for an independent owner.

If running a single facility by yourself is challenging, running multiple without a team in place can feel downright overwhelming.

Scale Your Operations without Additional Admin

Third-party management scales with you. From site managers to centralized marketing to call centers and tech stacks, they provide the infrastructure that allows you to add facilities without losing control or performance. Growth becomes sustainable instead of an uphill battle.

WHY THIRD-PARTY MANAGEMENT MAKES SENSE IN TEXAS

Texas is one of the most competitive self-storage markets in the country. With so many new developments coming online, owners can’t afford to operate below peak performance. Third-party management brings scale, technology, and expertise that’s difficult to replicate on your own.

By partnering with the right manager, you don’t just solve today’s pain points; you position your facility or portfolio for long-term growth.

About the Author

Zach Watson is the Content Manager at White Label Storage, a performance-focused third-party management company. White Label Storage manages 200+ facilities across the US and was ranked the #6 facility management company in 2025 by Inside Self Storage.

Sponsored by: 

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10 Ways to Boost Your Value

by Mike Miggins, CBRE

1. MARKET INTELLIGENTLY

Are you maximizing your marketing dollar? Are you thinking creatively? An effective website can be essential to capturing today’s savvy consumer. Approximately 80 percent of your tenants will come from a certain demographic and are coming from a select few marketing programs. Know your demographic!

2. DON’T GIVE IT AWAY FOR FREE

Are concessions hurting or helping you? Concessions are a powerful tool to attract tenants. However, be careful not to advertise blanket specials. Instead, concessions should be strategically targeted to increase income by discounting specific unit types that have historically low occupancy levels. This will not only increase the productivity of those unit types with higher vacancies, but will also sustain the economic productivity of unit types heavily demanded by the market.

3. IMAGE IS EVERYTHING

What first impression does your facility give to potential customers? The best tenants will be looking for high-quality, attractive facilities. Simple practices such as a fresh coat of paint, pressure washing doors and exteriors, picking up trash, and sweeping out units are all affordable ways that please those paying attention to detail. A few flowers and nice landscaping will also add greatly to your facility’s curb appeal.

4. MAXIMIZE UNIT EFFICIENCY 

Is the layout of your facility negatively affecting your income generating potential? Maximize the productivity of your property. Remember that overall income trends upward as unit sizes decrease in most markets. To the degree that the market will absorb them, partition unnecessary large units into unit sizes that rent at a higher price per SF to recapture lost potential income. Again, know your demographics! Ending up with too many 5x5 units could result in low occupancy and unsatisfied income expectations.
 

5. LEVERAGE ZONING

Are you aware of the extra value hidden in the land beneath your facility? Knowing the zoning code that governs your parcel can open up opportunities to create substantial income streams that are steady, dependable, and low maintenance in nature.

6. PUT YOUR BEST FACE FORWARD

Who is the face of your facility? Your choice of staff will be the face of your business. Managers who can give a good impression to potential tenants with charisma and attentiveness as well as capture your vision of professional service will attract and retain your tenants.

7. TRACK YOUR PERFORMANCE 

Do you know exactly what your facility’s weakness is? By keeping detailed records on a per-unit basis you can address individual supply and de- mand issues. By keeping track of your customer service and tenant flow you should notice trends that may help you capture more business. In both instances, tracking your performance can help you chart your path to increased value.
 

8. KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS

Do you participate in your community? Get involved with businesses and residents, and you will gain a more intimate knowledge of your market area, which will allow you to customize yourself to their needs.

9. UTILIZE SECURITY

Do tenants know your facility is safe? Reliable and visible security features will attract high quality tenants and lend to the credibility of the facility. Video surveillance, electronic gates, fencing, individual unit alarms, and on-site management are all becoming standards in the self-storage community.

10. STORAGE INCOME IS NOT EVERYTHING

How much ancillary income does your facility produce? The most successful operators in this industry have recognized that income is not limited to the monthly rent of their units. Additional income generators include RV/boat storage, specialized wine storage, safe deposit boxes, and a host of other creative ideas. Also, look at miscellaneous income items which could include administration fees, late fees, merchandise sales, truck rental, video conference rooms, and auctioning services.

 

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Training

Tailoring to Your Facility

by Jennifer Jones, JKJ Marketing

When you consider what a manager can and can’t do for your business, you realize how important training and hiring really are. A manager is part of your brand—the personality of your facility, the person who makes sure things are working properly. Depending on the size of your facility, they can wear many hats from marketing and maintenance to operations and revenue.

Trusted Self Storage Professionals has new assistant managers work with an experienced manager for two to three weeks before being scheduled to work alone. New managers work with an experienced manager for several weeks before being assigned their property. “We have one site that does most of our training, which makes for consistency,” says Mike Gately. The manager doing the training is a strong manager who likes training others and uses a written checklist of all tasks to be trained that must be completed and sent to the property supervisor. Good training is critical to achieving operational excellence and to have confident, competent employees.”

“Move It is larger than some of the other operators, so we’ve used our benefit of scale to set up an online learning management system (LMS),” says Katie Cowen. “Our managers get a combination of live, one-on-one training, training via review of an operations manual, and training via modules in the LMS. The LMS modules can include written lessons with a test afterward, video lessons with a test afterward, or a combination of both items. We also utilize training resources and certification from our software provider (SiteLink) and our ancillary truck rental services (U-Haul/Penske).”

Sarah Cole says that at Oakcrest Management, each new manager gets one week of training with a seasoned manager, two days of customer service phone skill training and one week in their store with a seasoned manager/ supervisor. “By the third week, they should be able to handle day-to-day functions on their own. On lien process days (NOC, cut lock, etc.), a supervisor will be with them to make sure notices are done properly and the new manger is learning how to do them properly. Oakcrest Management also has quarterly training webinars on various topics, such as collections, closing the sale and auction process.”

So, what do you do if you don’t have multiple facilities or don’t want to hire third-party management? You can write your own training manual. Each day you are performing a task, write down your thoughts and start creating checklists. Implement some of the tactics used above at your facility. You may only hire a new manager once in a blue moon or you may have higher turnover. Creating a training manual, although a time-consuming process, can ultimately save time when you hire a new manager.

Creating checklists for leasing, maintenance (as well as schedules), operations, procedures, new hire orientation, marketing and more will ensure your new manager is aware of your systems and expectations.

At RPM, training never ends. They have a designated trainer who gives personal, interactive training following a two-week program. At each subsequent store visit by a district manager, time is set aside for ongoing training for the entire staff. RPM also provides employees with paid tuition for online business management related courses.

 

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Compensating and Rewarding Your Managers

Creating Defined, Measurable and Achievable Incentives

by Karen F. Aroian

What motivates us to reach a goal or exceed expectations? Our behaviors are rooted in a complex combination of internal and external driving factors.

To be sure, one factor that motivates a self-storage manager is the incentive package, which is why self- storage operations offer property managers additional monetary earnings that are defined, measurable and achievable for the income they generate. To balance how a manager and the market are doing, self-storage owners should regularly review the purpose and goal of the incentive packages they offer.

PROPERTY-LEVEL INCENTIVES

“Bonuses are not an entitlement,” says Tom Maxfield, director of operations for Move It Management, a company which manages 53 properties. “When a manager does something exceptional, you should reward them. Every employee wants to know they’re doing a good job and moving in the right direction. All of us like to have that [affirmation]; it feels good.”

Move It believes all sources of income are relevant to the success of their business because the property manager’s focus and effort influences each area, whether it is the closing rate of reservations to rentals, delinquency collections, rate increases, retail sales per rental, rental truck commissions or tenant insurance.

Move It uses a property-level bonus system based on cash gains collected year-over-year for a monthly reporting period. Their managers must reach a minimum 5 percent of cash gains collected to earn a monthly bonus. Move It then pays an escalating amount up to 10 percent for higher percentages of gain.

According to Revenue Operations Manager Katie Cowen, Move It pays at least 80 percent of the monthly bonus to the primary sales manager and up to 20 percent of the earned bonus to the assistant manager, depending on the size of the operation. A site manager can expect to make $250-$400 monthly or $3,000-$4,800 annually. “We would like the property manager to earn 10-15 percent of their monthly/annual wage in bonuses,” she says.

“If we identify a specific area that needs improved performance, such as higher closing rates of reservations into rentals or retail sales per move-in or percentage of auto-pays, we will create a contest for several stores or for an operating district,” Cowen explains. “These contest periods are from one to three months, and we have a lot of fun with the competition. We normally utilize non-cash awards like gift cards, dinner for two at a nice restaurant or tickets to a concert or athletic event.”

For new properties in lease-up during the first year of operation, Move It looks for a step-up in occupancy each month. Based on expected absorption, they provide the property sales manager with a schedule of expected leases to be obtained for each month. Managers can earn additional income for achieving that monthly rental lease goal plus an additional bonus for exceeding that goal.

Cowen and Maxfield emphasize the importance of two things:  being able to calculate incentives easily and paying on performance since each property generates business from various sources, which managers have the power to influence positively or negatively.

“The data points should be easily identified from the point-of-sale software so the manager, the district manager or the owner can quickly calculate the bonus formula,” Cowen says. “We have found multiple metrics or complicated formulas become a disincentive for the manager because they don’t control the bonus calculation.”

“To be successful,” Maxwell continues, “we have to work hard and earn our business.  When we see exceptional work or performance from a manager, we may give a surprise bonus to that employee. The bonus can be a larger than normal monetary award or it could be extra vacation time like a Galveston cruise or a weekend on the San Antonio Riverwalk. These fun bonuses have proven to be very motivating for our top property managers.”

In addition, Maxfield adds, Move It rewards managers through team building and company recognition. “And, if we observe a hard-working manager who has a yearning to improve themselves, we counsel that employee and support access to academic or self-improvement courses or training. While we expect top performance from our managers, we also care for them as people and coworkers. We have found the ultimate incentive for a property manager is to be appreciated and recognized for the hard work at their properties.”

FLEXIBLE INCENTIVES ON NET RENTALS

Denise Bowley, co-owner and operations officer of Grow Your Storage, LLC, offers the managers at her 10 properties in Texas and Colorado incentives on a combination of end-of-year, performance and special projects.

Grow Your Storage (GYS) structures their performance-based incentives on net rentals. Their bonus structure for special projects varies. GYS informs their staff of their new firm’s annual challenge at the TSSA annual conference and trade show and awards a $500 cash bonus at the conference the following year. This year’s challenge is selling the most merchandise.

However, the purpose and focus of incentives at GYS does change. “We may see the need to lower delinquency rates, obtain online reviews or rent a certain type of unit. For example,” Bowley explains, “if we have a high vacancy rate in a certain unit type, we will challenge the store manager to rent as many as she can within 90 days. I usually let the store manager set the number of rentals while I set the bonus amount. The objective of the bonus is to keep the manager personally invested in the daily operations. The bonus allows them to experience how the success of the business directly results in recognition and reward for the people providing customer service and facility maintenance.”

While the store managers for stabilized facilities do not receive performance-based bonuses, they can earn a special project bonus a couple of times a year. For new facilities, the store manager has an opportunity to earn quarterly bonuses based on performance (net rentals).

Their store managers are paid based on gross revenue. Salary for a 105,000-square-foot facility with a resident manager is different from that of a 55,000-square-foot facility where the manager does not live on site. All “relief” (leasing agents) are paid by the hour and those hourly rates can vary.

In addition, GYS conveys the message that “good things come from working here” by awarding employees with random cash gifts related to life events, whether to help celebrate the graduation of an employee’s child or to help an employee with a needed car repair. “People do not only function in a cause-and-effect system,” says Bowley, who supports bringing “an unexpected, unearned gift to a valuable employee’s life.”

TOP LINE SITE BUDGETS

To successfully compete with REITs that focus solely on call centers, Advantage Storage, with its home office in McKinney, first takes time to hire employees who want the challenge of outperforming bigger competitors in their markets and are naturally goal-oriented. Advantage incentivizes based on performance and supports their high-end managers with the ability to adjust their site rates, to meet with their regional managers on a weekly basis and provides them with the tools needed to manage revenue and earn extra income. Turnover is low with 80-85 percent of full-time employees staying for more than 12 months.

 “We pay our hourly employees the highest in our industry to make sure we get a higher caliber employee,” says Chief Operating Officer Cory Horne, “and to make sure that our properties are managed well, and our customers get the best customer service in our markets.” Advantage’s full-time employees work 40 hours and receive 100 percent of benefits.

Most sites have one full-time manager and an assistant manager. Seventy-five percent of the time, the assistant is a part-time employee, working 29 hours per week. As long as the assistant has worked a full 29 hours during their four-week term within that month, these employees split the site bonus 70/30.

Advantage bases their incentive structure on a 12-month period and solely on each site’s top line budget revenue. As Horne explains, “That's because it’s what managers can control. Each manager and assistant knows what their budget looks like, January through December. We don’t change it mid-stream.”

Advantage uses each month’s figures from the trailing 12 or 24 months to give managers the ability to hit their numbers. “In January, for example,” Horne explains, “if the site manager’s total revenue budget is $50,000, and they meet or exceed that budget, they get $200; if they meet or exceed that number by $2,000, they get an additional $300, for a total of $500; if they meet or exceed that number by $5,000, they get an additional $400, for a total of $900.”

The last part of Advantage’s bonus structure relates to delinquency collections. While the industry standard is 3 percent or below, Advantage holds their managers to a higher standard by awarding bonuses for delinquency rates of 2 percent or less. According to Horne, 98 percent of their managers meet that goal, for which they earn an additional $100. That brings total potential incentive earnings to $1,000 a month when combined with the other incentives. “We do have those who hit that highest tier on a monthly basis,” Horne says. “They’re in higher income, higher density markets, which provide them that opportunity.”

Regardless of the market, Horne believes keeping managers motivated also has to do with how well they are managing revenue, in-place tenants, expiring versus non-expiring discounts along with how closely they look at their market and the competition within that market and adjust their street rates accordingly.

“So, if you’re 98 percent occupied, and you have two 10’ x 10’ units available, those units should be rented at a higher rate,” Horne tells his managers. “Now, if you have 25 5’ x 5’ units available on the third floor, adjust those rates to a lower level to be more competitive in the market.”

Site managers have the flexibility to set rates and the ability to go over that in detail with a regional manager to better hit their bonus goals. Regional managers visit 10-12 locations, at minimum, once a week for site reviews and audits. “We make sure that we’re giving our managers every tool they need to be successful,” Horne says, “because if they’re hitting their bonuses, obviously we’re doing well; the regionals receive a bonus based on their [managers’] bonuses, so they’re motivated as well. It works out well for everyone.

“One other thing we do is give our employees an end-of-year holiday bonus to thank them for the entire year. It also lets them know that staying with us for the full year is appreciated. A lot of our competitors have two-three managers a year. It’s hard to keep someone in place. We feel the holiday bonus shows them our appreciation.”

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

“You have to be careful not to lose sight of your goals, collections or maintenance of properties,” cautions Amy Nolan, co-owner of The Storage Place. “That’s why we do a combination of things in our managers’ bonus plans to keep all the relevant things front and center.”

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Turning a Property Around

by Tom Maxfield, Move It Management
March 31, 2020

It is all too common to hear about a particular facility not succeeding in its market, or, perhaps the facility was once successful but has since declined. For an owner or manager concerned about falling performance, rehabilitating a facility can be a daunting and often perplexing undertaking. However, most of the time, the keys to a successful turnaround program are right under your nose. So, don’t panic about the situation. Instead, become purposeful about identifying the problems and implementing a turnaround plan.

The first step is to simply recognize doing “something new” requires you to stop doing “something old.” It can be difficult to organize.

Your priorities as an owner or manager after years of “we have always done this way” procedures.  The primary goal is to always increase NOI. A troubled facility is always failing in that goal, and as a result, alternative ideas, strategies, and processes are necessary to achieve the desired outcome. Any owner or manager, regardless of the size of their facility, can, and should provide a safe, clean, pleasant environment for tenants and employees. Doing so will almost always add value to the storage experience, generate additional income, and prolong the life of your asset.  Over time, some owners get these priorities out of order or take shortcuts causing poor customer satisfaction, declining staff morale, deferred maintenance, and underperforming financial results.

Consider Your Facility’s Appearance

“Curb appeal” is a frequently used term to describe the aesthetic appeal of your property when first seen by a drive-by customer. We know that term refers to a fresh-looking image including neat landscaping, quality signage, and exterior lighting.   However, imagine what prospective tenants are sensing when they enter the office, and they see dirty windows or flooring, stained ceiling tiles, faded painting, and a messy desk. And, if you show them a unit, what if they see litter around the property, filthy hallways, or rodent droppings in the unit? The solution is to roll up your sleeves or hire a cleaning team and clean up your property. Your property may not be fancy but it can be clean. Once done, you can proudly proclaim, “We are the cleanest facility in our market.” Customers will love and appreciate your hard work and commitment.

Assess Your Facility’s Security

Customers want to know you care about their safety and their stored property. That does not mean you assume responsibility, either real or implied.  Rather, in this area, the level of trust with your customers is proportionate to your maintenance of access and surveillance equipment.  A customer will quickly lose faith in you if half of the video cameras are not working or the manager has no training in operating the DVR. While modern systems for access, surveillance, alarms are recognized added value features for most customers, it is essential to maintain the functionality of the security systems in your facility, regardless of the sophistication of the equipment. Doing so will create peace of mind and goodwill with your customers.

Analyze Your Marketing Program

Troubled facilities are not keeping pace with the market.  The reason is generally due to complacency.  Getting out and visiting the competition provides immediate feedback as to your level of curb appeal, cleanliness, professionalism, and customer service compared to your competitors. Prospective customers already know the differences from their comparison shops. It would seem obvious managers would be knowledgeable and proactive to these differences, but generally, you will find they do not. Even if prospective customers drive by your facility, most of them seek additional information online. Having an informative website is important, of course, but having free listings on local search directories is one of the quickest, effective strategies for generating more inquiries from prospective tenants. Registering the facility on internet directory or aggregator sites (including TSSA’s Facility Locator) can also produce significant new traffic but recognize most of these prospective tenants are price oriented in their decision-making process. They are using an aggregator site to easily compare deals or prices.  If this strategy is used, be prepared to offer a rent discount to the new customer while paying a commission to the internet site.

Employ Revenue Management

Underperforming facilities generally do not change their asking rates on vacant inventory because of fear of losing a new rental or lack of knowledge of market rates.  If a unit category has not leased up over a period of time, it clearly indicates potential tenants don’t believe that unit type has value at the existing rent rate.   Correspondingly, if a unit category has a high occupancy for a period of time, it indicates potential tenants not only find the rent rate attractive but they might also pay a bit more due to the general demand.  Many companies use their management software to analyze these trends to decrease rent to stimulate sales or to increase rent to maximize income.  Similarly, satisfied existing tenants recognize moderate increases in rent from time to time. For the customer, the acceptance of the increase is tied to their perception of fairness.  If an owner or manager is providing a high level of service and maintenance of the facility, the customer is more tolerant and accepting. To be successful, it is advisable for owners to correct facility or personnel problems prior to implementing an aggressive rate increase program.

Review Processes and Procedures Commonly, troubled facilities have inadequate daily, weekly, and monthly operations.  As a result, management control is inconsistent.   Site related duties for the manager, including daily security checks or bank deposits, are often not defined. Importantly, many poor facilities have no defined procedures for collecting delinquent rent or conducting lien sales.  With their lease, TSSA has provided members with the most complete lien sale procedure in the nation, and there is no excuse for not using this statutory tool to collect past due rent and free non-productive inventory for new rentals.

Evaluate Your Property Manager

How “good” is that person for your property?   Even though there are a variety of assessment resources, it is rare for owners to make minimal investment in personality and skill profiles when hiring their employees. As a result, many facilities do not perform because the wrong hiring decision was made.  The majority of these managers did not receive adequate training when they were hired nor were they afforded training on an ongoing basis.  If the facility has deferred maintenance or a lack of organizational structure, it should not be a surprise that the manager has lost motivation and instead copes with just maintaining a job.  Often, these situations are not salvageable.  How- ever, high expectations of the owner carry the responsibility of providing a supportive atmosphere for the manager to succeed. A defined job description regarding duties, competitive compensation, benefits, working environment, and training are essential to developing great managers. In a relatively short period of time, a bad manager can ruin a good property, but conversely, a good manager can improve a bad property.

Turning around a troubled property requires a commitment to create a new atmosphere and experience for the customers and employees. It also requires capital and organization to implement a defined plan for improvement. It normally takes six months to complete the plan, but the improvement and pay-off can be inspiring.

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Find the Perfect Fit
Hiring the Right Manager for Your Self-Storage Business

by Jennifer Jones, JKJ Marketing

Your facility manager is the face, heart and soul of your business, which means finding, hiring and training the right person is key. While that perfect fit will differ from store to store, it’s important to take your time to hire for the position. “Take the time up front to look for the perfect fit,” says Tristina Volesky with Lockaway Storage, San Antonio. “It will be time worth spent. Rushing to hire someone can sometimes cause more time and money down the road if you find out they are not a good fit.”

“It’s beholden on all of us, who own stores or who are in the industry, to elevate the profile of the staff we hire, not just through training, but also through coaching,” says Bob Vamvas with Storage Revenue Solutions, Richmond. “We may need to pay them differently. You need to ask yourself: Do you want a gatekeeper or an expert? Where are you going and growing? Make sure the person who represents your business is someone you are proud of and a professional in the industry. By hiring the right person, tremendous things happen in stores and portfolios.”

Job Description

You need a good job description so you know what you are looking for and attract the right candidates. “A job description is important in two ways: for candidates to understand what they are doing and for legal reasons,” says Mike Gately with Daughtry Properties, San Antonio. “If they think they will be in an office and you ask them to clean up a unit, and they balk, then you have a problem. For legal reasons, if you have an issue and you haven’t completely explained the job and have to terminate, then you may have to pay an unemployment claim.”

The job description will also help you narrow your focus. “The criteria we look for in a manager can differ for different sites,” says Volesky. “If we have a facility that is in lease up, then we need a manager who is strong in marketing. If we have a facility that is a busy location then we need a manager with energy and a can-do attitude to get things done. If we have a facility with storage, truck rentals, and mini offices then we need a manager who can multi-task.” 

Job Posting

“Expand your resources in searching for a new manager: different job posting websites, use signage, ask for trustworthy referrals,” says Volesky.

Gately also advises to put the word out to current employees and suggests Craigslist. “We’ve tried other things, but have had the most success with referrals and the information we keep on file from past people who were looking.”

Vamvas adds, “A manager who’s a high performer will refer someone who is like them. They won’t refer someone who won’t put in the same effort they do.” He also suggests using Indeed.com.

Experience

While some prefer to hire someone with self-storage experience, others prefer different skill sets. Gately says the best managers are: motivated to help people, friendly, good listeners, enjoy the work they do, have an entrepreneurial spirit with a strong work ethic, and welcome responsibility.

“I look for someone who has worked in a managerial capacity that proves they are a hard worker,” says Vamvas. “Boutique fast food restaurants like In-and-Out Burgers are good for showing that. I also look for community involvement.

“I also like people with marketing backgrounds who aren’t afraid to get a little dirty by spraying for weeds and sweeping out. They tend to be more outgoing, customer-service driven and articulate. People who have worked as a recruiter or at a staffing agency make good self-storage managers as well as people who have experience in apartment leasing and are involved in the community.”

“I believe that to be successful, first and foremost, a great self-storage manager must possess superior customer service skills,” says Stephanie Skinner with Seguin Self Storage, Seguin. “This is a service industry, why wouldn’t one strive to provide the absolute best service possible to their customers?”

Gately recommends, “Hire for attitude even more than experience. Within a few weeks or months, you can train people to learn the skills, but attitude is not a trainable item­. There will be a certain way they conduct themselves with the public. If they have a down-beat attitude, you start with a deficit you can’t overcome. Determine if they welcome new challenges.”

Since we need customers to survive, “We look for candidates who have had longevity,” says Volesky. “If they do not have self-storage experience, then we are looking for someone who has customer service experience. Someone with management experience is also a plus. We also make sure they have basic cash handling skills and computer skills.”

The Interview

“Set up multiple interviews before you hire,” says Gately. “Depending on logistics, have one of your senior managers interview at the site, or at your corporate office. Have two to three different interviews. Note if they get there on time. Have them interview with different people in addition to you. I may think they are a great fit, but a manager or marketing director has different perspectives, which improves the chances that we will have a good hire. We each have our own biases and someone else may be able to pick up on something I miss.”

“Interview more than once, so you have spent more time with the candidate(s) that are potential new hires,” says Volesky. “Be organized in the interviewing process: review resumes, ask the right questions, ask the important questions, and ask the same questions.

“We are sure to ask questions that help us figure out if the candidate is going to be a good fit for our company and the culture we have created.  We also ask questions that help us get a good idea of their work history, why they feel they will fit our position, how they work with others, and how they present themselves professionally. Some of our interview questions are:

1. Name two accomplishments in your last position.
2. What specifically about your past work experience makes you a strong candidate for this position?
3. What specifically about our open position interests you?
4. Tell me something you have accomplished as part of a team.
5. What motivates you?
6. Name a time that you wow-ed someone.
7. What techniques do you use to keep yourself organized?
8. What does good customer service mean to you?

If Volesky interviews a candidate that has self-storage experience, then she asks questions that will let her know how much experience they actually have. Some example questions:

1. What size facility have you worked, sq. ft, and number of units?
2. What did a normal day of work look like?
3. What did you do to market the facility?
4. What did you do to bring in more income to the property?

Gately adds, “A good prospect is interviewing you as much as you are interviewing them. If you are taking calls when you are interviewing them then they may not want to work for you. It’s a two-way street. Every candidate deserves respect and your undivided attention. Also, if you get a good candidate, then move fast, because you will lose them if you don’t.”

Characteristics

When interviewing, Vamvas has a variety of questions to find out what characteristics a candidate has:

1. Describe for me your closet? How do you hang your shirts?
2. Where do you keep your car keys?
3. Where do you keep your tools? Would I have a hard time finding a screwdriver? Hammer?
4. What did you do the last two weekends? When did you plan those?
5. Describe an adventure you’ve had.
6. Would you be embarrassed to have someone come to your home right now? Why or why not?
7. What was the biggest failure you’ve ever had on any job?
8. What are/were the strengths/weaknesses of your last boss?
9. Explain a way you sought a creative solution to a problem.
10. What MS Office products do you use?

As the candidate answers, Vamvas looks for the following characteristics:

1. Adventurous – from renting units to selling ancillary products to marketing, I look for someone who doesn’t mind trying.
2. Self Sacrificing – for superior customer service look for someone who wants to help.
3. Refreshing – when you walk into this person’s office you can feel their positive attitude; they never have a down day.
4. Self Reliant – someone who requires little hand holding.
5. Faithful – one who won’t quit on me.
6. Leader – one who will take charge but not be bossy; one whom others gravitate to.
7. Productive – someone who likes to be busy and will find ways to do so during the slow times of the month.  Also, they will want to work on all managerial responsibilities, such as cleaning the inside of a storage unit and wiping doors down just to make sure the climate control building is spotless. They’ll take the initiative to prepare for the oncoming leasing season by putting together packets. We want a person who will find ways to stay busy and not sit around watching YouTube videos all day.

Training

Depending on your facility, training may look different from one to the next. However, it’s a must and there are a number of things you can do to help your new hire integrate into your business and set them up for success.

Gately and Vamvas suggest buddying up your new hire with an experienced mentor manager. “I recommend two weeks of training, four if your new employee doesn’t have storage experience,” says Gately. “An experienced manager who is doing the same thing day in and day out will be in an excellent position to show your new hire the ropes.”

In addition to pairing up the new manager with another manager, Gately recommends giving managers the big picture. Include them in financial reviews and ensuring they understand owner goals, why decisions are made and why each lease matters.

“Empowering the manager to solve problems for the customer and be responsive so that each customer has a pleasant experience is something we can offer over the REITs,” says Gately. “We take our smaller size and make it an advantage by allowing the customer to deal with a decision-maker. For example, if a customer has three units and wants four, then your manager will come back with a price. The customer may decide it is too much for their budget. The manager may opt to cut them a deal because they understand that the customer is valuable and will make money for the facility over time.”

“Managers need the ability to make decisions on their own,” says Skinner. “Giving a manager the authority to make decisions based on what is best for the customer, as well as the facility, speaks volumes. Empowerment creates leaders on every level. Lastly, I believe a truly great self-storage manager must be humble, have integrity, and maintain the highest level of accountability at all times.”

Vamvas uses the following training checklist:

1. Send a formal welcome email to staff.
2. Review and signature of business controls.
3. Conduct one-on-one training with an experienced manager (takes 3-5 days).
4. Partner new manager up for another 5 days with experienced manager.
5. Cover the following:
1. Summary of key contacts
1. Owner, other managers and staff
2. Summary of technologies in place
3. Login into and using site management system
4. How to get callers off the phone and into the store
5. Renting a unit
6. Controlling delinquency
7. Tracking information
8. Review and signature of other business critical information (responsibilities, marketing, safety and environmental)

 

No matter the size of your facility, or how many you have, hiring a manager who runs it like it’s their own is the holy grail of managers and may seem like a hard task. But, taking your time to find, hire and train the right person will pay off in spades over the long term.

Additional information, forms and a checklist for hiring and firing employees can be found in the Goldbook©.

 

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Turn Your Slow Season Around

by Tron Jordheim

The “slow season” is upon us. That time when the winter holidays are approaching and cool weather is blowing in is usually not the time when you see peak demand in self storage.

Slow Season Marketing Tips

Rent as many units as you can, however you have to rent them, so you start with maximum physical occupancy when the spring busy season comes. Maybe you are feeling pretty full and happy. That is great. Why not challenge yourself to see how much you can grow your net operating income next year?

Test Demand

You have only two factors to consider: demand and supply. Big surprise, right? So first, test demand. Don’t change your rental rates, but if things are slow, advertise aggressive move-in specials. First-month-free, or first-month-for-a-dollar specials are hard to beat.

These strategies have been proven over and over again to be successful. Run your special, in combination with market rates, for the first month of slow season. Advertise it with some gusto. Spend a few bucks getting it out to the marketplace.

Measure Your Success Rate

Was your pace of rentals better than last year for the same month after running the special, or about the same? Were your conversion rates 60 percent or better? If you got 10 inquiries, did you rent to at least six of them? If you did not rent to someone, was it because of something other than price?

Review Your Supply

How did it affect supply? Still plenty of units? Or, getting tight on supply? If you are tight on supply, repeat the same special for a second month. Repeat the analysis each month during the four or five months of slow season.

I know owners hate giving the first month free. But if you are giving a free month to people paying market rate, what are you complaining about? When you start month two, you’ll be large and in charge, so get aggressive with first month free. If your month-end tests show you are not getting tight on supply and have plenty of units still left to rent, and your conversion rates are not 60 percent or more, cut asking rates. Yes, I said it, cut asking rates.

However, you must make it plain to people when they rent at reduced rates that these rates will discontinue on March 1, April 1 or May 1, whichever day correlates best with the start of your demand season.

Bring Rates Back to Market

Present the reduced rate as 20 or 30 percent off market rates until March. This makes it easier to go back to market rates when it is time, and fewer tenants will move out when you take them to market rates in anticipation of strong demand.

Empty units don’t help you in the slow season. Any income is good income if the other option is no income from an empty unit. The more physical occupancy you have at the start of high demand, the better position you are in to move market rates up early in the season. Many of your discounted renters will accept the increase to market rate and will not move out because they are expecting it. Some will move out, which will give you more units to rent at market rate. If they do move out, they will do so without bitterness or remorse because you made it clear to them from the beginning when their rates would go up to market rate.

You may have local conditions that won’t allow you to implement this strategy or another situation that will make this the wrong strategy for your site. You’ll need to decide for yourself.

But in the vast majority of cases, this will result in additional income for the last month or two of the year, which is always helpful. It will also result in additional income for the first few months of next year. And most importantly, it will be like rocket fuel for your efforts to maximize the high demand next spring to build maximum income for each quarter in 2018. This all means a big gain in net operating income.

Advertise Your Specials

What are the best ways to advertise this? Put it on your website. Put it in your social media. Use Google Ad words. Put a yard sign in front of your site. Get a big teardrop banner and set it out front by the curb. Put it on your main sign. Say it in your on-hold messaging. Say it upfront on the phone. Put out fliers in the areas of your neighborhood that are most likely to bring you some attention.

Reassess in the Spring

You may adopt a completely different strategy for move-in specials come April or May. You may be full enough and may have raised rates enough that you don’t have to offer any move-in specials next summer. You may want to tweak the specials by unit type. See how things look in the spring and decide as you see what your local conditions look like as the season develops. In any case, I’d be glad to hear from you next spring regarding how this slow season strategy was a winner for you.

Tron Jordheim is the business development manager for Store Here Management/ RHW Capital Management Partners, and a consultant in sales, call center practices, marketing and management. Tron has writ- ten three books, is a frequent speaker, and is a contributor to industry trade journals. Tron was a pioneer in search engine optimization, digital marketing and social media. Tron’s clients and employers have gained billions of dollars in asset value from what one self-storage industry icon described as his “quirky brilliance.”

 

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