If you want 2018 to be a year to remember for your self-storage business, it may be time to make some New Year’s resolutions. By focusing on how the past year has gone, where you want the new year to go and how you can get there, you have a much better chance of moving your business in the right direction. But don’t just make vague plans. Serious resolutions that make sense for your storage company are the way to go. Consider resolutions in the following areas.
1. Look Ahead to Your Goals
You can’t make good resolutions for your business if you don’t know what goals your company really has. You need a clear, concrete plan, and one of the ways to get there is to be sure that your business is focused on the goals that matter. Those could be about making more money, hiring more people, expanding into a new product or service area, or anything that you want to make a priority in the new year.
2. Consider How to Help Your Customers
If your self-storage customers aren’t getting what they need from you, they won’t continue to rent at your facility. They may give you a second or even a third chance, but that’s about it. Eventually, they’ll get enough of being disappointed, and they’ll move out. They’ll also tell people they weren’t happy with your service, which can stop you from getting more customers through the door. Don’t let that happen to your business. Instead, look at the ways you can keep your customers happy as well as bring in new ones.
3. Update Your Marketing to Be More Efficient
Marketing is one of the keys to getting and keeping customers, and how you handle your business’ advertising matters. Your marketing efforts should be very efficient, so you can spend the least amount of money and time for the largest result. That will help your business save money, and still make sure people know what you have to offer to them. If you reach out to your customers in a way they will respond to, getting them interested in your business and helping keep that interest is much easier.
4. Focus on Proper Delegation of Duties
You need to delegate a lot of the duties of your business, so you aren’t trying to do everything all the time. If you don’t delegate, you’ll run yourself ragged and won’t have time to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Don’t let that happen when you have employees who can help you avoid that problem. Of course, delegating things the right way is also important. You have to be sure that staff know what they need to do and that they take their jobs seriously before you give them new duties to perform.
5. Resolve to Learn a New Skill
Each year, you should learn something new that you can use to help your storage business. It can be a skill, an idea or anything that you didn’t know before and can put into practice. By doing that, you’ll be more likely to help your company expand and prosper. You can also teach your employees more things, so they can do their jobs better, take on more duties, and develop interests that can help the company and themselves. Happy employees are productive employees, so be sure to keep that in mind when you learn new skills and pass them along to your employees in the new year.
Lee Preston, a collector (um, almost hoarder), once had three storage units (yes, admittedly) at the same time. After being on the customer side of self-storage for many years, it’s only fitting that her career path landed her at EZstorit.com, which offers an online directory for self-storage customers. Writing the occasional blog is a nice break from her other tasks as director of marketing and promotion. To contact Lee, e-mail [email protected].
