Industry Best Practices for the 21 st Century. Bob Copper Self Storage

Transcription

1 Industry Best Practices for the 21 st Century Bob Copper Self Storage

2 The People The Product The Program

3 The People Who s got the keys?

4 It Starts with the Manager A Manager-Centric Business $1,000,000 asset in the hands of one or two Tenants know the manager s name Space rented at the site Rent collected at the site

5 We worry & fret over every detail, except one Most important consideration Least amount of attention No training No sales No collections Little operations No calls to previous employers Do you REALLY know who is managing your multi-million dollar asset?

6 Typical Self Storage Managers Semi-retired Cheap labor Order takers Leaf rakers Friend of a friend Trained by other inexperienced owners

7 21 st Century Manager Very little management experience Who or what are they managing? Sales skills Answering the phone Effective collections Not a natural ability

8 Likes people Professionalism Pleasant demeanor 8 Well groomed Good dental hygiene Groomed

9 What do you expect? 9 Priorities Rent space Collect rent Reinforce with every contact Create drop everything atmosphere

10 The bottom line The time put into making good manager choices is time well spent. There are few concrete decisions we make that affect the success or failure of our facilities more than that of the onsite manager. You CANNOT effectively manage one or multiple self storage facilities without hiring high quality managers.

11 Your Training Program? Sales Skills Phone Answering Features & Benefits Closing Techniques Price Stalls Lead Follow Up

12 The Product Taking a Brand New Look at Your Self Storage Facility

13 The Physical Plant First impression most important. People make up their mind about a business when they pull into the parking lot Trust & Confidence diminishes with a poor first impression What does potential tenant see? What does your facility say to potential tenants?

14 What Does Your Customer See? Professionalism Welcoming Clean & well-kept Secure Worth it?

15 Drive up curb appeal. Painted curbs Well-marked parking spaces NEITHER THE MANAGER NOR THE OWNER SHOULD BE USING ONE OF THE PARKING SPACES IN THE FRONT OF THE OFFICE

16 Parking lot. Trash & Weeds Faded or no stripes Dumpster location. NOT at the front of the facility Clearly marked and free of outside debris

17 Office door. ONE new Visa/MC sign! No hand-made signs, ever Front gate. Clear, new signage Keypad works, arm is straight

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19 Gutters Replace or remove dented gutters Poor Lighting. Security Customer-friendly Landscaping. Neat, well kept

20 Office Clutter. Make it simple, it s a simple business Merchandise Display. Full, clean, priced Restrooms Clean, well-stocked

21 Uniforms. Name tags Shirts with logo, name of facility Replace if torn Rental Trucks. Clean Ready to rent

22 What about your sign?

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32 Goofy Unit Mix? Do you really need 9x10, 10x10 AND 11x10? Too many unit sizes unfair to managers, makes their job more difficult Hampers marketing efforts

33 Display needs to be full, priced, clean. This is NOT a great merchandise display but it s better than this one

34 How can anyone get anything done at this desk? What message does this send to your customers?

35 Why NO hand-made signs? 50% off! for how many months? And why would you want to give away rent before you even talk to the customer? Why would you need two Visa/MC stickers?

36 Would YOU want to leave your stuff here? Really? THIS is professional?

37 The manager told me that the owner wouldn t let him spend the money to fix this. Or this

38 Not sure what this sign is supposed to say. The manager says he never thought to replace the flags.

39 Cobwebs & trash Not sure if this is a legal crop or not?

40 Might be time to replace the numbers. These weeds are growing INSIDE the doorway.

41 What does this say? How does this look?

42 Buy some new numbers! What does this mean?

43 The rentability of your site It s not about you, it s about the customer. Does it help rent space or increase collections? Does it allow the manager to focus on priorities? Does it affect the bottom line? Is it increasing the value of your assets?

44 Bottom Line The condition of your storage facility says a great deal about how you treat your customers. YOU are not the most important consideration: Your customers are. Stepping back and taking a customer view of your facility is a highly valuable exercise.

45 The Program

46 Operational Tune-Up Face the Facts: Cheapest or the best? Why be the cheapest? Invest in the managers Sales & Collections Updated Technology Timely maintenance

47 Operational Tune-Up There is no silver bullet Self storage is grown one customer at a time EVERY lead matters EVERY Phone call EVERY walk-in EVERY internet inquiry

48 Owner has right to expect facility to be managed per his or her instructions. Your Operation Policies & Procedures Cannot rely on story telling Leave nothing to chance Allow fluidity as business changes

49 Update Your Management Software Web Based No back up Review in real time Revenue management Professionally manage rates Alerts to increase opportunities Auto payment Make it a BIG deal

50 Auto-Debit. Make it a big deal No Late Fee guarantee Three Magic Words!

51 Accounts receivable. Better documentation to effectively manage collections effort User-friendly. MORE important that manager can provide great customer service than owner can see how many different ways he or she can look at a report Usable reports. What do you REALLY need to know to effectively manage your business? Daily activity Revenue Management Discounts & Exceptions Unit Mix

52 AVG Stay is 10 months What is yours? Marketing 101: Understanding The Value of Your Widget AVG Rate is $100/month What is yours? How much would you invest to make $1000? What about the increase in asset value? AVG Value is $1000 What is yours?

53 Check Your Marketing Efforts Resist Temptation to Stop Marketing People ARE still renting storage space More important than ever to stand out among competitors Yellow Pages Fresh, up to date Easy to read Spell check Long term, get it right ROI?

54 Does it work? Features and benefits? Easy for customers to use? Online rentals? Spellcheck? Rates on line?

55 Rent Units! First page How many clicks to rent a unit? Company history? Cookies and Clubs Online only specials

56 Third party call center Expands hours Professional effort Business cards With manager s name Signage Phone number? STORAGE largest word?

57 Misc Considerations Operating hours Access hours First of the month or anniversary dates? Couples? Live on site managers?

58 Bottom Line Using industry best-practices is a smarter, more profitable way in which to manage your selfstorage assets Learning from others mistakes is working smarter and good business. Using an up-to-date Operations Manual is an effective way to insure your self storage facility is running at peak efficiency.

59 Bob Copper Self Storage