Self Storage Management

Professional Third-Party Self Storage Management

Our professional self storage management company knows what it takes to help you grow your business. We have a portfolio of over 500 locations in 37 states, including more than 150 self-service locations and 11 commercial properties. We pride ourselves in our vast array of knowledge in all the areas you will need for the successful management of your facility. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • Accounting
  • Human Resources
  • State Lien Laws
  • Auction Procedures
  • Retail Operations
  • Marketing
  • Pack and Ship Stores
  • Maintenance
  • Financial Auditing
  • Budgeting
 

Every property has a unique market, demographic, and personality. We work with you to integrate our proven techniques into your business to provide you with stellar results. Your property will be managed by our amazing executive staff and industry professionals including our district managers, marketing managers, third-party vendors, on-site managers, accounting, and human resources personnel.

If you are considering breaking into the self storage industry and are looking for a long term plan that works, let us help you get off to the right start to increase your chances for continuing success. Let our staff help you with all of the time-sensitive pre-opening tasks, so that nothing falls between the cracks. This includes finding and hiring your on-site staff, helping adjust your unit mix, helping with the design and layout of the front office, integrating your computer software and hardware, establishing a marketing plan, developing your rental agreements and forms, and establishing policies and procedures. Let us help you get your new self storage facility off to a successful start.

As a professional self storage management company we understand the importance of self storage marketing on many levels. Storage Asset Management’s marketing team take a three part pathway to advertising for your self storage facility by focusing on the digital market, the local market, and the self storage property itself. We take pride in having state of the art websites to make sure any potential tenant can easily find your property online. With our websites you will be able to take online payments, customer reservations, and with the right management software, online move-ins. Our marketing focuses on localized marketing efforts, from door hangers to grand openings. We monitor the results and use the local self storage property manager’s feedback to customize an ongoing marketing plan for your facility. We encourage existing customers to refer their friends who need self storage units to your facility, and use the interior of the self storage property to advertise retail sales, protection sales, and referral programs.

Digital Marketing

Known as inbound marketing, it is key to your facility’s success. Here are just a few of the items we focus on.

  • Online advertising
  • Website traffic promotion
  • Website tracking
  • Online lead generation
  • Search Engine and customer friendly websites
  • Link-building with vendors and partners
  • Social media strategies and management

Local Marketing

Proactive marketing to assist in bringing people in the door. The following items are very important to the success of your facility:

  • Customer education marketing pieces
  • Local print advertising
  • Direct mail campaigns
  • Grand opening event
  • Yellow page ads
  • Logo designs and re-branding
  • Marketing contests for staff
  • Local business relationship building
  • Monthly rate reviews
  • Marketing events
  • Chamber memberships
  • Giveaways and specialty marketing items
  • Building relationships in the community

On-site Advertising

We work hard on our on-site advertising so we are ready when potential customers stop by.

  • Professional custom signage
  • Curb appeal audits
  • Sales training
  • Lead tracking
  • Signage of customer referral programs
  • Signage of tenant insurance programs
  • Customer mailings
  • Demographic studies
  • Customer appreciation events

All kinds of external sources effect the ebb and flow of our self storage facilities daily operations. From competitors’ rate adjustments, to the collegiate storing summer season ending, you need to be ready with managers who are trained to combat the threats to our day-to-day businesses. Your managers can react quickly when the tides change if provided the proper tools and resources, including a plan tailored to your specific property.

Utilizing an intelligence based revenue management tool, you can lessen the effect that these stressors can have on your property. Facilities using these tools to their fullest potential, historically, have out performed facilities that take a less active pricing approach with manual annual or bi-annual pricing changes.

Your property can benefit from the use of the following with our self storage revenue management team:

  • Dynamic, automated, street rate adjustments based on demand, unit type, and property occupancy, as well as relative prices compared to competition.
  • Calculated and timely existing tenant rate adjustments.
  • Customized discount programs based on local market conditions, demographics, and property occupancy.
  • Frequent review of merchandise prices and various fees.
  • Continuous analysis of move in and move out behaviors and trends.
  • Ability to pilot test new pricing or discount programs at a group of properties before implementing at others.

We do our best as self storage managers to maximize the value of our client’s investments over time. Because of our size, we are able to bring added value to each individual property we manage. We help you examine your spending item-by-item and no expense is too small to be examined. Our team focuses solely on the self storage industry to bring your facility the dedicated expertise it deserves. We consistently monitor all of our facilities expenses and compare them to similar facilities to help increase everyone’s cost savings. Our goal is to help you maintain a quality facility while maximizing profits. The amazing rates we get from our vendors are passed to our clients to help with the bottom line.

Here are some cost savings benefits by using a third party storage management company:

  • Annual cost review vs similar sites
  • Vendor contracts
  • Telecommunications
  • Utility purchasing
  • Credit card processing
  • Call center rates
  • Lead generation websites
  • Software services
  • Payroll expenses
  • Back office support
  • Marketing plan management
  • Graphic design
  • Website and internet marketing
  • P&C Insurance

We know how important having up to date information on your property is to you so we make sure that you have access to all the data you need. We also understand the value of your time, so we handle the day-to-day operations so that you do not have to. We work hard to make sure that you have peace of mind knowing that your business is in good hands and that your self storage investment is growing. Our professional accounting team and operations teams work together to manage all financial aspects of the operation including:

  • Vendor contracts
  • Accounts payable
  • Payroll management
  • Bank account and financial report reconciliation
  • Daily deposit verification
  • Operations budgeting and forecasting
  • Owner distributions
  • Quick access to any additional reports requested
  • As needed or regularly scheduled conference calls
  • In-person meetings with middle/executive management
  • Monthly reporting to owners
  • Income statements
  • Monthly balance sheet
  • Update on operations (staff, market, site maintenance, etc.)
  • Capital project suggestions
  • Customer survey results

There are many people who believe that the top three factors in building a successful storage facility are “location, location, location”. We believe that the top three are “Manager, Location, Quality”. We take pride in helping you with one of the most important parts of your business: hiring your management staff.

We carefully monitor the location managers through many avenues to ensure their continued success. Some of the ways we do this is through mystery shoppers, recorded phone calls, customer feedback, and overall facility audits. We hold managers to a high standard and reward their continued excellence. This has allowed us to retain phenomenal employees over the years.

We provide all managers, seasoned or not, with a comprehensive training program that includes:

  • Introduction and history of the self storage industry and local market
  • Introduction and study of the Employee Handbook
  • Introduction and study of the Policy & Procedures Manual
  • Visiting all local self storage facilities
  • Daily operations
  • Importance of a properly executed lease
  • Cash management
  • Sales skills
  • Lead management
  • Customer service
  • Collections procedures
  • Using the computer software
  • Basic site maintenance

Our ongoing training over the phone, on-site, and through meetings covers a variety of topics including:

  • Phone skills
  • Sales
  • Marketing
  • Customer service
  • Computer skills
  • Site maintenance
  • Collections
  • Risk management
  • Pricing and promotion strategies
  • Expense control
  • Leadership skills

Storage Asset Management understands the importance of brand identity. If you already have a brand, we will help to strengthen it within the marketplace with our marketing expertise. If you do not have your own brand, we have developed a brand that you can utilize. Storage Sense is Storage Asset Management’s brand for facilities. If you choose to use this brand, the costs will allow for even better economies of scale with website and marketing expenses since the brand is established. If you are interested in utilizing Storage Sense, we would be happy to discuss that in further detail.

Storage Sense