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.
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