Symmetry Storage LLC, a Windsor, Colo.-based startup that last year launched its mobile app, Stow It, as a peer-to-peer marketplace for self-storage and parking services in Fort Collins, Colo., has redesigned its website interface to more closely align with its app features. Similar to other shared-economy networks, the company provides an online platform where people in need of storage can find local hosts willing to rent available space.

“Most people have a terrible moving or storage story that usually involves inconvenient locations, inflexible pricing, and an impersonal experience,” founder and CEO Devin Eldridge said in a press release. “The idea for Stow It came after my own less-than-ideal experience with storage. I wanted a solution for storage and parking that truly makes a difference in a community-oriented, localized way.”

Stow It features include in-app messaging between hosts and customers, and detailed photos and descriptions of storage properties. Those who wish to store items or vehicles can find flexible leasing terms and make automatic payments through Stripe, an online payment provider.

Though Stow It was launched as a marketplace for Colorado users, there are viewable storage listings on its website from out of state, and the company intends to offer its platform on a national level, the release stated. “We are excited about the opportunity to provide people with another source of income while easing the stress so many consumers experience surrounding storage and parking,” Eldridge said. “Our goal is to deliver an amazing experience throughout Colorado and eventually the U.S. to meet this growing need.”

Advertised parking spaces are available for as low as $50 per month. While item-storage spaces range from $50 to $500 per month, most are around $100 per month. Among the viewable listings are Deer Creek Storage, a self-storage operator in Edmond, Okla., and SquirrelBox, a Denver-based valet self-storage provider.

The Stow It mobile app is available for Android and Apple devices.

Developing a sales culture is a key component to making a selling system work for your self-storage business. Even if you put processes and procedures in place, employ a coach and a manager, and set goals, without a sales culture, you’ll fail.

A company’s culture is often not what supervisors believe it is. They may have one idea as to the behaviors, thought processes and motivations that drive performance; but in practice, it may be very different. That’s because employees often get mixed signals and conflicting directions. To make a culture grow—in the right direction—you need a clear framework and consistent core messaging.

A sales culture has a few basic rules that drive every action and policy. Here’s a simple set of cultural norms for a sales-oriented organization:

• We’re always selling.
• We’re always setting up the next sale.
• We’re always building referrals.
• Our friendly and welcoming approach makes people want to buy from us.
• Our great customer service makes people want to buy from us again.

If these five principles are the bedrock of your culture, you can’t go wrong. You want every company interaction, policy or procedure to uphold these guiding philosophies.

Telling Stories

You can build your culture by telling stories, which is what binds people together. Just look at the “Harry Potter” culture. These stories bind millions of readers across the globe.

Tell stories about your storage company that celebrate the five basic pillars outlined above. Find real-life examples in which an employee’s commitment to one or more of these principles resulted in a success, or a triumph against adversity. Then tell these stories—a lot. When people hear them, they’ll become recommitted to the company’s core philosophies.

Writing Scripts

Next, use the five principles to build your sales scripting. A script is really just a phrase that successfully moves a prospect along the path to the purchase. Scripts aren’t long, drawn-out monologues—no one has time for that. Instead, understand the concerns prospects have so you can build reassuring phrases around them. Understand their decision points so you can help them make a good choice with the phrasing you use. Following are a few examples.

Scenario one: The prospect has a concern about urgency. He needs to put things in storage soon. Your script for this might be, “I totally understand. A lot of our customers don’t realize they need storage until the last minute. I can be here for you today and get everything set up so you can begin moving in right away, or I can be here tomorrow, too. Which is better for you?”

Doesn’t this uphold the five principles? How often will a response like this lead to a rental?

Scenario two: The prospect has a concern about getting a truck or movers for the move. Your response might be, “I know it can be tricky to get everything coordinated. Most people rent their storage unit first to make sure they have what they need. Then they can breathe a little easier while they work on scheduling friends or a moving service because they know the unit is ready and waiting. Let’s get this off your to-do list and get your name on the unit now. We can do that with Visa, Mastercard or Discover. Which would you like to use today?” Doesn’t this also follow the five principles?

Scenario three: The prospect has a concern because funds are limited. Your guidance might be, “I understand a lot of people don’t budget for a storage unit in their move because they don’t think the need will come up. Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll put your name on that 5-by-10 unit. It’s a better rate than the 10-by-10, and I can get it for you half off the first month, so you would only need to pay $79 today. That should give you enough room, especially if you stack things high, and it gets you under a $100. I just need the correct spelling of your last name to get the order set up. How is your last name spelled?” You’ve taken the person by the hand and made a decision that will help his situation. You’ve hit all the guiding principles.

Training and Rewards

You can monitor staff performance by simply asking if every interaction followed the five principles of your sales culture. If you’re listening to a recorded call and it falls short, it should be easy for the employee to hear and understand where and how he failed. You can demand that salespeople use specific phrasing until they’re able to let the correct verbiage roll out of their mouths in their own words. A word of warning: If you’re not specific and demanding, people will develop their own habits, which may be unproductive and will certainly be hard to change.

Role playing is a great way to practice until phrases become natural and easy to say. Just focus on the bits and pieces of scripting you’re trying to perfect until you can string them all together. Trying to bite off more than an employee can chew during this exercise creates frustration and is counterproductive.

Building incentives around correct behavior and successful completion of goals is also helpful. You can create contests and small bonuses for using the prescribed scripting and getting rental commitments. Watch the results to ensure you’re encouraging the right activity, however, as incentive programs can sometimes encourage behavior you don’t want. For example, the desire to reach a bonus can cause people take shortcuts, game the system or fudge numbers. Incentive programs are trial and error, so try different things and see how yours develops.

Creating a sales culture is fundamental to your selling system. Spend time on it. Do it deliberately and carefully. Watch your results and make adjustments as necessary. You’ll be glad you did.

This article is part of an ongoing series on self-storage sales. The author will present a four-hour workshop on sales skills at the Inside Self-Storage World Expo, April 10-13, in Las Vegas. For details, watch www.insideselfstorageworldexpo.com.

Tron Jordheim is business-development manager for the Store Here Self Storage third-party management platform. He’s consulted for many self-storage companies and spoken at industry events in Canada, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Prior to joining Store Here, he spent 15 years as director of the PhoneSmart call center and chief marketing officer of StorageMart. For more information, visit www.storehere.com or www.selfstorage.management.

By Jay Fitzgerald

Reprinted with permission from "SpareFoot Storage Beat.”

This past year was yet another banner year for the self-storage industry in America, with increasing revenue, high occupancy rates, low capitalization (cap) and interest rates that made transactions attractive, and high demand but low supply of space that encouraged new construction and conversions. So how can the industry possibly repeat that performance in 2017? The answer: It probably can’t and won’t.

“There will probably be a slowdown, but it’s still going to be solid,” says Marc Boorstein, a principal and co-founder of MJ Partners Real Estate Services, a Chicago-based self-storage broker that deals in public and private industry transactions. Not that the industry won’t make a good run for another championship-like year in 2017. But most experts say it will just be tough to repeat 2016’s stellar performance. “Everybody seems to be ratcheting down just a little bit,” Boorstein says.

With 2016 in the rearview, here are six trends to watch this year.

Will the REITs Recover?

There was a tentative slowdown occurring late last year, with revenue for self-storage real estate investment trusts (REITs) down from a range of 5.7 percent to 8.5 percent growth in the second quarter to 4 percent to 7.2 percent growth range in the third quarter, according to Boorstein. Facing pressure to maintain record-high occupancies and lease up new facilities, the REITs increased discounts and backed off aggressive rental rates, resulting in diminished revenue growth.

That has, in turn, spurred an investor selloff. Over the course of 2016, stock for Public Storage Inc. declined about 12 percent, Extra Space Storage Inc. and CubeSmart dropped by more than 16 percent, and Life Storage Inc. (formerly Sovran Self Storage) plummeted by more than 25 percent.

Will Record-High Occupancy Hold?

The good news for the industry is occupancy rates are still high, hovering in the low 90 percent range for large public and private self-storage owners. The occupancy numbers are a little lower for smaller companies, but still solid. “Every indication is that demand will not slack off. Demand [for space] is still solid,” Boorstein says.

Will Valuations Fall?

Connie Neville, a co-chair at SVN Commercial Real Estate Advisors, agrees there will probably be a slowdown in 2017. Higher interest rates—sparked by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s recent quarter-point hike in short-term overnight rates—could dampen activity and hurt values a bit, she says, especially if the Fed keeps raising rates in 2017 as it’s indicated it would over the course of the year.

That, in turn, could hurt cap rates, which are now at historical lows as well as impact transactions. “It’s going to be less feverish, a little bit off the robust pace this past year,” Neville says.

Will the Pace of Acquisitions Moderate?

Nick Malagisi, Neville’s colleague at SVN Commercial Real Estate Advisors, notes sale transactions in 2016 were hovering around $5 billion by the end of the year, up from $4 billion in 2015. He expects “a diminished but still healthy” number in 2017 compared to this past year.

Most industry experts believe self-storage REITs may pull back from their torrid pace of transactions in 2017, says Steve Mellon, managing director of JLL Capital Markets, a commercial real estate firm. However, private-equity investors, who’ve become bigger players in the industry in recent years, could pick up the slack. “You’re still going to see transactions at a good clip, but perhaps involving different players,” Mellon adds.

Will New Construction Affect Pricing Power?

At one point this past year, construction was running at a 124 percent annualized clip over the previous year, according to government and industry estimates. But industry experts are divided as to whether that translates into an overbuilding that could eventually bring down rental rates.

There might be geographic pockets of overbuilding of new facilities, such as in Denver and Miami, Malagisi says. Others point to possible overbuilding in Texas and parts of California.

“But, overall, we’re not going to see have a problem with absorbing new products. Demand is still strong,” Malagisi adds.

Boorstein isn’t as sure. “We just don’t know how it will turn out,” he says of strong construction trends nationwide. “There could be some market-to-market jolts, depending on how much is built and where.”

How Much More New Development Is Coming?

Tom Doyle, director of the national storage team for commercial real estate firm HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP), estimates there’s still about $1 billion in new construction already permitted across the country, and there’s also a lot of liquidity in the market for more development. “Hopefully, we’ll see responsible development,” he says, noting there’s room for growth in urban areas and in-fill construction in quality neighborhoods.

Anne Hawkins, an executive vice president at real estate research firm STR Inc., is also hearing of possible overbuilding in Nashville, Tenn., Portland, Ore., Chicago, and other cities. But no one is sure if it’s reached a level to be overly concerned.

“People are just being a little more cautious these days. But my gut says the industry will do well overall. It should be a good year,” she says.

Jay Fitzgerald has more than 20 years of experience covering business and economics for publications and online sites, with a growing emphasis on blogs, social media and podcasts. He’s a content write for the “SpareFoot Storage Beat.”

Australia self-storage operator KeepSafe Storage Centres intends to develop a new facility in Welshpool, Australia. The property will comprise 650 storage units and 4,000 square meters of vehicle storage. Parent company KBH Group of Cos. has committed $10 million toward the cost of land and construction, according to the source. The project is expected to be complete this year.

“An integral part of KBH’s strategy in the development of these facilities has been to focus on customer needs firstly, and then applying this knowledge to the detail in the planning and final build, which in turn delivers a self-storage experience that exceeds expectations at all levels,” Shaun Bain, managing director of KBH, told the source.

The asset will be the company’s third self-storage property in Western Australia. KeepSafe currently has locations in Balcotta and O’Connor.

KBH Group is a private-equity and venture-capital firm. In addition to KeepSafe, it has interests in Coastal Storage Units, a self-storage facility in Perth, Australia, and Pier 21 Marina, a private marina of boat slips in Perth.

Update 1/23/17 – The Shreveport City Council is expected to decide on Tuesday whether to allow Southern Storage Centers to expand the Brookshire’s structure on Fern Avenue. If approved, the South Highlands Storage Center and Retail Shoppes project would expand the building from 23,000 to nearly 80,000 square feet, which exceeds the recommendation put forth by the metropolitan planning commission last month, according to the source. The commission recommended an expansion cap of 34 percent of the total property.

Lennard recently submitted plan changes based on planning feedback and community concerns. Those plans indicate a smaller first floor than initially proposed at 51,340 square feet, which would be 49 percent of the lot. The second floor would bring total square footage inside the building to 79,260, the source reported. In addition, plans now also include five retail spaces that would front Fern Avenue, including outdoor patio seating. The developer also indicated he’d install a 60-foot green space with oak trees and a pathway.

“We’re trying to accommodate the community and their concerns,” Lennard recently told planners. “We’ve been trying to be a good neighbor.”

Though the commission recommended the project, planners contended the proposed footprint was too large for only self-storage, calling it a “sterile” use of the property. Commission director Mark Sweeney said the “sterile” tag doesn’t apply with the addition of retail and the green space, according to the source. “They’ve really turned the corner on that initial recommendation,” Sweeney said. “The new site plan is more compatible with the neighborhood.”

Amid continued opposition from some residents, Dallas-based Spirit Realty Capital Inc. has expressed reservations about the facility’s design. The real estate firm owns the former El Chico and Campbell TV spaces, which are connected to the Brookshire’s building. Asset-management director Tyler Sorenson indicated the project would “detrimentally impact the ingress/egress of Spirit’s property,” in an email to the council clerk.

According to documents Lennard provided the commission, Brookshire’s is willing to sell the property only if it isn’t turned into a fast-foot restaurant, grocery store or other retail business that sells food, the source reported.

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12/9/16 – The Shreveport, La., Metropolitan Planning Commission voted 8-1 yesterday to recommend approving a plan to convert a former Brookshire’s grocery store to a two-story self-storage facility. Southern Storage Centers is in the process of acquiring the Madison Park property, and though current zoning allows self-storage as a use, the operator needs city-council approval to expand the 20,000-square-foot structure, a source reported.

The commission voted favorably despite opposition from residents in the nearby Broadmoor neighborhood, who would prefer a mixed-use retail development that would bring more sales-tax revenue, according to a source. The structure hasn’t been an active retail site for about 20 years and is currently used by Brookshire’s as a training facility. Southern Storage CEO Ricky Lennard told the commission the $3 million project would wind up generating up to $100,000 in annual property taxes.

Lennard also indicated the company has 65 customers within a mile of the property who would be able to use the new facility rather than an existing location on Ellerbe Road. Though the land parcel itself would be the operator’s smallest, the expanded building would be the company’s largest. "I've been watching that Brookshire's for years, and no one has done anything with it," he told the commission. "We feel like we could be a good neighbor and build something good in it."

Rob Broussard, president of the Broadmoor Neighborhood Association, argued that no other uses have come before the city because Brookshire's hadn’t offered the structure for sale. "We believe [the self-storage facility] would lower property values," Broussard told the commission. "Build it within the confines of the structure, and I won't have a problem with it."

Two neighboring business owners spoke in favor of the project. "We're struggling right now," said Charles Klepper, who operates an Exxon gas station next to the building. "Some of us are doing well, some aren't. But we need some economic development. I'm for this; this is great."

Robert Baucum, owner of the adjacent restaurant Marilynn’s Place, told commissioners Lennard has been receptive to allowing overflow parking from the eatery to use the property’s excess space. Lennard also said he could accommodate Krewe of Highland, a local Mardi Gras group, to continue to use the property to stage its floats, according to a source.

Southern Storage Centers operates six self-storage facilities in Louisiana, including four in Shreveport.

Australia-based self-storage operator National Storage REIT (NSR) has agreed to acquire a facility in Wellington, New Zealand, from Storage Solutions 2002 Ltd. and Paremata Business Park Ltd. for NZ$9.75 million. The asset comprises 4,300 net rentable square meters in 500 units. The deal is expected to close by the end of the month, according to an NSR press release.

The property, adjacent to Kenepuru Hospital and other businesses, will be NSR’s third in Wellington. “We are delighted to expand our presence in Wellington with such a high-quality center. This asset is a previous winner of the Self Storage Association of Australia Facility of the Year Award, denoting the quality of build and operation,” said Andrew Catsoulis, managing director of NSR. “This acquisition will further strengthen our brand in Wellington and enhance our New Zealand operating synergies. There is opportunity to drive rate per square meter and potential for further development across the site.”

NSR increased its available capital with Westpac Banking Corp. by NZ$50 million to help fund the acquisition, the release stated.

NSR operates 109 self-storage facilities across Australia and New Zealand. It’s the first independent, internally managed and fully integrated owner and operator of self-storage centers to be listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Real estate development company Johnson Development Associates Inc. (JDA) has purchased a 3.9-acre parcel in Chesterfield, Va., on which it plans to build a self-storage facility. The company paid $2 million through an LLC for the property at 1671 Mall Drive, according to the source. The seller was Robious Road Holdings LLC, a Virginia-based company.

The facility will be designed by McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture, a Spartanburg., S.C.-based architecture, planning and interior-design firm.

The parcel is at the intersection of Mall Drive and Robious Road, just north of the Chesterfield Towne Center, a local mall. It’s also near a new Aldi grocery store and the 368-unit Clairmont at Chesterfield Apartment Homes.

JDA has several projects underway in the area, including a $10 million self-storage facility in Short Pump, a village of Glen Allen, Va. The 4-acre site is off Tom Leonard Drive. Additional projects include a $39 million warehouse in Hanover, Va., that will house a 311,000-square-foot Vitamin Shoppe distribution center, the source reported.

The developer was represented in the deal by Matt Hamilton, vice president of the Norfolk and Richmond, Va., offices for Colliers International Group Inc., a commercial real estate company.

Spartanburg-based JDA owns an investment portfolio of commercial and industrial properties including self-storage facilities, multi-family rental communities and single-tenant industrial space. It has developed more than 6,500 luxury apartments since 1996, while its industrial projects comprise 20 million square feet of commercial space.

Fourteen firefighters were injured on Saturday morning while battling a blaze at a Metro Self Storage facility in Charleston, a neighborhood in Staten Island, N.Y. The four-alarm fire began just before 10 a.m. at the back of the property at 3026 Veterans Road W., according to a source.

It took about 150 firefighters two hours to get the fire under control. Forty to 50 storage units containing household goods, construction materials and a car were destroyed, according to James Leonard, chief of the Fire Department of the City of New York. The smoke made accessing the interiors of the units difficult, he added. "We had to use saws to open them (storage units) up.”

Three firefighters suffered serious injuries, while the remainder had minor ones. None were considered life-threatening, a source reported. The injured were transported to local hospitals.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., Metro Storage LLC is a privately owned, fully integrated real estate operating company that owns more than 120 self-storage properties in 12 states. It specializes in the acquisition, development and management of self-storage facilities nationwide. Metro’s facilities comprise more than 8.1 million square feet of storage space.

Storage Express, which operates 91 self-storage properties in five states, has completed an expansion of its facility at 9201 W. Washington St. in Indianapolis. The site now offers 213 new storage units and 65,000 square feet of storage space, which is double its original capacity. The property is on U.S. Route 40, near Indianapolis International Airport.

Storage Express opened two new Indianapolis facilities last year, and completed a 27,000-square-foot expansion at its Mann Road site in the city. The facilities offer 24-hour access, personalized gate codes for customers and video cameras.

Founded in 1992, Storage Express owns and operates self-storage properties in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. The company has offices in Bloomington, Indianapolis and Jeffersonville, Ind. Rentals are centralized out of the company’s Bloomington headquarters.