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The self storage industry is one of the easiest industries to be a part of. Let us look at how simple being in this business is. All you have to do is greet customers when they come in to your facility, you show them a rental and then they give you their credit card. Besides that, the associates do not have much to do. Why else do you think that many people are getting involved and trying to get involved in managing property ?

So now, let us wake up and shift to reality. Storage is hard and it is a very difficult business to be a part of. Usually if you take a drive down the closest major highway, you can see a facility almost every other mile. Sometimes you might find two or three on the same street. If there are so many facilities, how does one facility stack up against another one?

That is where it comes down to the person or team managing property . For the customer to want to give their hard earned money to your facility to store, you have to give them reasons to. It might come down to price, features, cleanliness or other amenities.

Depending on where you live, you will have many different places to visit, evaluate and decide if that is place for you to store. Most of the time you will have to get the customer to agree that your property is where they need to store. When people call around looking for the best property, they might focus on price more than anything. Unfortunately in the market today, the power of the dollar is important. So if they can not see the value in what you have to offer, they will not rent from you. Just because you are giving away your storage for one dollar for the first month, does not always get you the most business.

When managing property , you have to be able to stay competitive with your friends in storage around you. A clean and well maintained facility will go a long way with different groups of customer. If a customer finds your facility on one of the various ways of advertising you might do, decides to come down to see it and it is not up to par, they will not rent. It is up to the person managing property to keep the appearance up in order to attract all walks of life.

What kind of security does your facility offer? Are you nice and thorough to the customer? These are all questions that they want to know and hear. As soon as you answer the phone or your associates answer the phone, the stage is set. The caller will know right away if you are friendly or you do not care about them as much as the next person. Each customer is different and the person managing property needs to understand that.

A well trained sales staff that can also do the tasks needed to keep the property looking good is a great combination and a winning formula. Sometimes you might find that you will have either someone that can adapt well to the needs of the customers or someone who is just good at keeping the facility looking good. When you are in charge of your property, you have to have the balance in order to take care of every customer.

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The last person wanting a storage unit, she was looking to find a place to store her personal belongings before the end of the month. She lives in a small one bedroom apartment in Manhattan and was moving in with a girlfriend that lived in a brownstone apartment in the Bronx. Devastated and in tears, she described how she lost her job that week and her boyfriend of three years just moved out. The lease was up in two weeks. She was reminded that she was lucky to have a friend who was there for her, being a true friend. The most trying times present an opportunity for your real friends to treat you the way they would want to be treated. She was also reminded that she was looking for a job when she found the last one, and now she has the opportunity to find a better one for herself. While she was searching online for management properties in the Bronx, she was showing strength of character in taking the first step to organize herself.

She found out that there are a lot of management properties offering storage, and so many specials it was mind boggling. She did a search by zip code and narrowed down some of the management properties to check out. Then she made a list of management properties that featured high tech security and protection coverage. Then she telephoned to talk to some of the management properties to verify her guess that a five foot by fifteen foot storage unit would work for her. She was going to store everything except a good portion of her spring and summer wardrobe and toiletries. Because she had never stored before, she found out the climate controlled unit that was available at many of the management properties would work best for her, as designer clothes, including leather coats fair much better in a unit that maintains a controlled temperature. So no matter what season it is, the storage unit will stay within a few degrees of 70. The protection plan was also a must item to include in the month to month agreement. Why chance not getting compensated should a fire, theft or water main break at the facility, it was less than ten dollars a month? She really did not want to risk losing anything else in her life. The way her luck was going, she was not about to tempt fate.

She figured that it was cheaper to rent a storage unit to keep her belongings safe while she got herself emotionally and financially back on her feet. Self-preservation rules during times pre-empting dramatic life style changes. She had enough money that she could afford to pre-pay for six months. In fact pre-paying turned out to be an incentive also, as the facility offered her another month of storage free. There is a sense of relief knowing you are not going to lose anything else. She felt sure she could get her life back on track in seven months. The last thing to organize was a truck. The facility also offered a free truck as a new customer incentive and only needed 48 hours notice to schedule. This was going to work out great, a free truck to use for three hours.

With the storage unit secured with a ten dollar non-refundable pre-payment going towards her first months rent, she had taken the first step. Tomorrow she would go to the facility and sign the contract, pre-pay her six months, schedule the truck, buy her lock, boxes, bubble wrap and tape and go home and start packing. She was ready.  

Miami Storage

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We all know how the saying goes, you only have one time to make a first impression, we know and hear that saying but we decide not to abide by it. You are on stage the whole time you are speaking to the customer. They are analyzing how you are providing great customer service. They want to know that with the money they are investing, they are getting valuable help with taking care of their needs. When a customer picks up the phone and makes that call to your storage facility, they need to be well taken care of and it all starts with the greeting.

What is in a greeting? Well a greeting is a way for two people to intentionally get involved in a conversation. A greeting is also a way to show that you are aware of the other persons desire to speak to you. Have you ever thought of it that way? A greeting makes you aware of the other person. Was there a time in which you called a company and you heard just a simple hello? Is just saying hello the appropriate way to say you are aware that you have a desire to speak to that person? Probably not. As property managers, you and the people that work for you need to realize that you are on stage the moment you answer the phone or have someone walk through your door. Do not think that a proper greeting is limited to answering the phone.

There have been many great greetings in self storage and greetings that we should not mention. As property managers, we have to be consistent. Some people decide to have a greeting that is scripted and is a paragraph long it seems, where others just answer the phone with the name of the facility. There is no perfect way to answer the phone and grab the attention of the caller. As property managers, we need to ensure that customers are being greeted in a way they feel invited to either come into the facility or walk around it. The happy medium to the greeting is to ensure that the caller knows where they called, whom they are speaking to and to know they are ready to be helped. The tone, inflection of voice and sincerity can all make a difference on the delivery of the greeting. 

The greeting sets up the rest of the call. A greeting is also considered being important because it usually sets the mood of the entire call. As property managers, if we have a bad opening line, we can maybe lose the attention of the caller. If we do not establish a position of power and control early in the call, the caller might walk all over us. Understand that you have the tools necessary to have a great presentation to assist those who want storage. The hardest and easiest thing is, do we use those tools?

As property managers in self storage, we know there is a lot of competition out there. No one is above making some tweaks to their performance or doing some self evaluations. With a proper greeting, you are setting the stage for the call. Now, setting the stage is the easy part, what song and dance you do afterwards is also crucial in the renting of new tenants.

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Raise your hand if you know what your job is. Everyone should have their hand up in the air because you should know what your job is. If you do not know what your job is, why are you coming into work each day and clocking on? It is very important for you to know what is required of you at work for you to be able to perform at high levels. In the self storage world, you have to know what is expected of you at work in order to people to come in a get a rental unit from you.

What is going to make your facility stand out to the people that will call your facility or drop by? What is going to make the difference to the caller to get a storage rental at your facility? These are very valid questions that you need to ask yourself or your team. The more people that can help you figure this out, the better.

When you are taking calls as an associate, what is one of the first things that you do? You should be thanking the caller for calling your facility and then introducing yourself to them. In the beginning of your call, you should be trying to build rapport with the caller. The more rapport you build with the caller the better chance you have to get them to get a rental space from you. Take a second to think about this scenario. You are out with your friends and you realize you need a particular product to purchase. Your friends point out a product they believe would greatly benefit you. Because they are your friends, you decide to get it. It is believed that as a customer you want to be able to be talking to a friend of theirs. That is why you want to try to build rapport with the caller, so they will tell their friends.

When talking to a potential customer, you need to be able to find out what their true storage needs are and take care of them. With trying to recommend the right rental space for the caller, you will have to know all you can about what they are storing. How else do you expect to help the caller with finding the right size, if you do not understand what they are storing?

Another thing you can do to take care of the callers needs and desires, is to sell your facility. The caller will not come down unless they have a reason to believe they can get a great value on a rental space. You have to be the one that can sell your space to the caller to get them intrigued enough to come in. When they are at your facility, they now can see what you have to offer. Take your time with the caller and show them everything that you believe will intrigue them to want to have a space at your facility. Tell them about all the specials that you have and try to understand what it will take for them to be a tenant in your building.

When answering the phone or seeing the customer in person, you have to put your best foot forward. You only have one time to make a first impression.

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There have been calls taken about selling self storage from different companies and all have a good way to build rapport on the phone. Most still enjoy that face-to-face contact with the customer. Your personality can sometimes shine through on the phone, but looking the customer in the eye and showing your friendliness and willingness to assist them in your body language will win them over. Getting the caller to stop by and see you and your rental property is a great way to close the sale.

Think about it. If you call into a retail store looking for a particular item, you find it, and go down to the facility, you are most likely going to buy it from that retailer, barring some catastrophic turn of events. The same thing is true in self storage. If you can get the caller to commit to coming by your rental property and showing them a great personalized experience, they will hand you their money to rent today. How does one ensure that the caller is being taken care of fully so that they would like to rent from you?

Once the phone rings, you are on stage. How you speak to the caller has an impact on the overall sale. Are you talking to fast? Do you let the caller talk? Do you cut the caller off when they are trying to say their thoughts? These are important things to think about when you are speaking to the caller. When you get into the meat and potatoes of the call, what is your sales focus? Are you just rattling off some phrase that you are supposed to say to the customer, rather than giving personalized service? No one wants a robotic sales person. Ask the customer what their storage needs are, take care of those needs, add some salesmanship, and find a way to get them to stop on by your rental property. It never hurts the customer to ask them to stop by and see what your facility has to offer.

Once you get the caller to stop by your rental property, you are halfway to a sale. The customer is in your building and now you have to find out what is holding them back from renting and if they like what they see. If you keep your facility clean and well maintained, there are still some variables that you might have to overcome. Those variables are price, specials, and convenience of location. Two out of three of the previous topics you can take care of on the spot. You cannot pick up your facility and move it to another location. You will just have to talk up why you chose this location and how it can accommodate a large percentage of the public.

In self storage, we need to take every opportunity to get the caller to rent from our facility versus our competition. Get the caller to stop on by your rental property. When they do, ensure that your facility is clean, warm and inviting to them. You as a manager need to make every effort to impress, but do not be over the top because the customer can see the over aggressiveness. Get the caller to stop by and you are more than half way there to getting a new tenant.

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There are many people that do a lot of research when looking for the ideal self storage unit. They make many phone calls and search endless websites looking for the best of what they desire. The question is though, what are the customers looking for in a storage space? What are they looking for when they are looking for their special storage rental? What do you think they are in need of? What will get them to rent at your facility?

Those are the questions that self storage managers ask themselves every day they are in to work. No one wants to fail and not sell rental spaces. Most managers want to be able to say, We do not have any spaces available to rent. But we can take your name and number and let you know when they become available. There are some facilities that can say that to their customers. Now are they doing anything differently than the next storage facility? Are they the pillar of excellent customer service? Are they giving their rental spaces away at pennies on the dollar? What is their secret?

Some people say that the secret to getting people to come down to a facility to get a rental space from them is customer service along with a great location, mixed with some great pricing. Some of you storage managers might think to yourself, do you have all of that to offer the customer? You can never be too sure. The combination above is hard to have and hard to attempt to possess. You cannot pick up and move your location to where the customers are after you have already set up your property. Now you can change the prices on your rental spaces and attempt to give outstanding customer service, but what is the definition of outstanding customer service and what is the best price for storage?

You as self storage managers can stress yourself out trying to figure out what is going to give them more business. Every storage facility is different and has a different customer base. Not everyone is going to be able to win over every customer. What you can do is completely take care of the customers needs. The great thing about that is that every customers needs are different. This is why not one facility is able to take care of each customer, but not everyone is committed to take care of people uniquely.

As people are out there doing research looking for the best facility, what are they really looking for? It is different from one person to the next. What would happen if companies out there stop being so scripted in how they talk to customers and actually ask the customer what they are needing in storage space? What would happen if one company thought outside of the box and came out and asked customers what they are needing? Most companies spend tons of money thinking up ways to get customers into their buildings to store their belongings. The funny thing is that the simplest solution are sometimes right in front of them. Just ask the customer what they want. Just think, if we actually knew what the customer wanted and then we could satisfy their needs to the fullest extent. Wow. What a concept.

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Who are your best storage rental customers? Is it the customers that only rent for a short period or the long term renters? The answer should be clear. If you have more long term renters, then you do not need to worry about trying to fill up your units every month and trying to make your quota. So how do you attract the long term rental customers?  What can your storage property do differently in order to attain and keep long term renters? Usually storage renters plan on staying anywhere from 2 to 3 months, up to a year, depending upon what they actually need it for. Most storage companies out there will offer a move in special.  This is great because that appeals to everyone. The move in special will certainly attract storage seekers to your property that will want to rent with you, but after they get the initial move-in special is there anything that you can do to keep those long term renters? 

How about a long term prepay rental special? Long term prepay rental specials attract those businesses out there who do not want to move their items to another storage facility. They usually want to stay where they are at. However, like any business there is a yearly budget that they need to entertain in order to appease the owners of that company. If your storage facility is not currently offering any type of long term rental specials, then you may find your customers shopping around. Again, a lot of facilities out there are offering a move in special and many do offer long term prepay rental specials. 

However, not all facilities routinely ask their callers if they are planning on a long term rental stay. This needs to be discussed when the caller makes their first contact with you. They have their calculators in hand and are getting to the bottom of things to see which place will benefit them the most. Yes, security and cleanliness are musts when it comes to renting a storage unit. However, you still need to think about the overall picture and not just the face value of someone coming in for the first time to rent storage. Sure your property is clean and lovely and you have a great move in special that is equal to what everyone else is offering. Ask each of your callers whether they are storing for personal or for business and how long they plan on renting for. So what if the majority only plan on staying for a short period. If you are able to get those long term renters to give you that valuable information than you can offer them a valuable long term prepay rental special.  For one, that long term prepay rental special will most likely guarantee that their unit will not be on the market again for at least 6 months or even better, a year or longer. That gives you one less rental unit to worry about having to fill during that time period. So what if you lose a little at that moment for the 12th month when you have given it away for free. If the rental unit were empty, it could be empty for much more than just a month or two. You have to think ahead of the next storage facility and what will bring in the most profits. Sometimes in order to gain more you have to be willing to lose a little. But in the long run you will have gained much more than a long term renter. You can gain more business by word of mouth from the current customer or even more rentals from the current customer. And you took one more unit off of the market for a nice stretch of time.

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If you have been working in the storage for rent business for a while it is so easy for you to wonder why someone calling to ask about storage for rent has not a clue as to what a storage unit size looks like. True enough, many who call for storage have used storage for rent before and they know pretty much what size they need, however, it is usually just a rough estimate. Many callers who have never stored before may assume that a unit for rent that their friend rented 2 years ago would also work for what they are storing. Although, they may not have even known what their friend actually stored in their storage unit. Even if the caller tells you exactly what they plan on putting into the storage unit for rent we can only estimate what size would work the best to suit their storage needs. It may be a bit too small or a bit too big. But it really makes a difference if the couch that they need to put in storage is the old fashioned petite couch kind, or the popular puffy oversized regular couch or even the oversized sectional couch that comes in three or four pieces. 

An entertainment center can be anywhere from the size of a large end table or the kind of entertainment center that fits across the entire width of their 16×20 foot living room and nearly reaches the height of an 8 foot ceiling. If the caller is very vague in giving these precise descriptions, then who knows what storage size for rent their things will fit in. But if you are skilled enough to ask these questions than you can get a pretty good idea of the unit size that you would need to quote them on to at least make sure that their items fit into the storage unit for rent.

Then there is the question of how many boxes and what are the sizes of the boxes that they plan on storing. Or the garage items that they are not sure they are willing to let go yet. They may store more. They may store less. How large is their dining set? Is it a table and chair set for four where you can also turn the chairs upside down on each other to stack those two high? Or is it an dinning room table and chair set for eight that comes with eight huge chairs that you can in no way stack on top of each other because they are the size of a mini loveseat.

Then if the caller is shopping around for storage but it seems like all locations have pretty much the same amenities, features, prices and specials. How can they make a decision to best suit their needs? How do you convince them to rent with you? So what if you are down the street from me, so is the other storage facility they just called. How do you handle these?

Invite the caller in for a site visit. If they are not good at visualizing the differences between them or they cannot visualize the size of unit for rent and are really hesitant about reserving or deciding on a specific size or type of a storage unit for rent, then it is really important for them to get to the facility so they can see for themselves if it will work or not. When they come in, they can see if it is the kind of storage facility that they can see themselves renting with. Is the property clean and well maintained? Does the structure look sound and safe? What type of people visit the property for rent? Is the location in a well lit area or a safe neighborhood? Do they feel safe being on the property? Do they feel comfortable with the employees at the property? A site visit will give a better perspective of the actual property. Invite them in.

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Look no further. You have come to the right place if you are searching for information on how to best utilize your self storage rental space. What you are about to learn from reading this blog should give you the perfect start in utilizing every inch of space in your self storage rental unit. If you want to make sure that every penny spent throughout your rental process is well spent, then keep reading. It may not be a wise decision to skimp when it comes to purchasing or attaining self storage supplies like boxes, bubble wrap and other items that you will need to get your belongings packed or organized and ready for storage. Sure you can go to your local business and try to re-use the boxes that they have received their deliveries in, and they may be free. But free is not always best. 

For one, you will most likely end up with such a variety of awkward sized boxes that you will not be able to stack them as efficiently as you could if they were the same sizes. Number two, used boxes tend to lose their strength resulting in boxes that collapse. Then you have a mess. Weak boxes also lessen your ability to save precious self storage rental space because you will not be able to stack them as you would be able to with strong, sturdy boxes. Most self storage rental properties that carry moving supplies such as boxes will offer them in a wide variety of sizes that you can choose from to suit your needs. Another benefit of investing in boxes will be the money that you save because of less time spent packing, writing, sorting and stacking. Instead of packing three small boxes, save time by using one large sturdy box that you also know you can stack to save rental space.  And since self storage boxes typically come preprinted with rooms that you can simply check off for easy reference when putting them into your new home, you save time by not having to write it out. 

You know how the old saying goes, time is money. Oh how that statement is so true. Now when it comes to stacking your items in your self storage rental unit, it is more of a space saver to first store your furniture pieces and then store your boxes by stacking them on top of the furniture. You can also fill in any empty spaces with your boxes to help utilize every inch of your rented space. Pack your unit from the back of the unit and surrounding the walls, before you fill in the middle of your self storage rental unit. When you do this, it will help to stabilize high stacked items and utilize the rental space more efficiently. 

Other self storage moving supplies you may find helpful includes bubble wrap to protect fragile items from breaking during the moving process. This will save you the hassle and money on having to purchase new items because of broken pieces. Unprinted rolls of newspaper will not leave your hands and household items dirty with ink like printed newspaper will. If you have leftover unprinted paper, you can use it for multiple other purposes too. If you have kids, they can use it to draw on. You can use it for other craft projects too or just save it for future use. Furniture covers or rolls of plastic wrap will keep your furniture dust free and like new, saving you money that you would have spent on cleaning it after you moved it into your new home.   So as you can see, spending a little will save you a lot.  Check out other storage supplies offered at the self storage rental facility you rent from and you will find many useful items that you can take advantage of.

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Rental properties come in a variety of price ranges. As with any other type of real estate, rental rates are determined mostly by location, location, location. But other things such as the size of a rental unit and the included amenities also determine how much a tenant pays for their rental space.

A graduate student needs very little space in which to live. He spends most of his time at school. He is teaching classes, studying, and writing his thesis. He is trying to conserve his finances until he is able to graduate and attain his dream job. His requirements in a rental unit are simply that it be close to the university, low maintenance, and have a low rental rate.

Twenty something parents with young children need their rental apartment to be located in a kid friendly complex. They are not able to yet buy their own house so they want a rental space that feels like a home. Their unit needs to have at least two bedrooms, for the benefit of kids and parents alike. The apartment also needs to have washer and dryer hookups, or at least a convenient laundry area within the complex. And the facility needs to have kid friendly amenities such as a playground, a swimming pool, and a club house available for birthday parties. And a very important thing for an apartment facility that wants their rental units to accommodate a young family is that it be located in a good school district before most parents will even consider it.

Then there are apartment complexes that cater to DINKs. DINK is an acronym for couples that are Double Income, No Kids. These families have extra disposable income that they enjoy spending on their living arrangements and their lifestyle. The actual amount of their monthly rental rates are less of a concern to them than what all is included with their payments. 

These apartment complexes are located in popular areas and need to have great views. The view can be of a big city skyline or the mountains or a large lake. The list goes on and on. But the scenery outside of the windows needs to be spectacular for a landlord to get a large rental rate.

These apartments need to have an upscale design and appliances package. The closets are large and the ceilings are often high. The walls are well insulated to keep noise to a minimum. And there is usually a No Children policy, to help with noise levels as well.

Tenants living in high end apartments are accustomed to high end amenities. A doorman and concierge are common in large cities. Rental spaces located on a golf course have unlimited golfing for their tenants, as well as a golf shop and a golf pro on hand. Unlimited use of tennis courts, exercise room, and hot tubs, are important.

Almost all apartment buildings with a high rental rate have a swimming pool, a sundeck, and whirlpool and sauna for the residents. A clubhouse with a big screen television and a fireplace is common. A business center with wireless network, computers, and fax and copy machines are available for busy multitaskers.

There are a variety of rental properties available because there are a variety of people needing to rent. Location is the largest factor in determining the price of a rental space, but the included amenities also makes a difference.

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