A well-designed website is crucial in the self-storage industry today. The right design not only increases performance, it has a direct, positive impact on your business bottom line. You not only need an impressive user interface, you need content that defines your brand and initiates the conversion process.

Today’s digitally empowered consumers expect more from a self-storage website than just a basic design containing facility location, unit information and property amenities. They want a website tailored to your unique advantages in the market, plus one that lets them lease with ease. How do you meet these expectations? Here are some guidelines to follow.

Essential Website Elements

First, make sure all contact and location information is accurate and consistent. Provide directions, including proximity to nearby landmarks. Once you know potential renters can reach you, continue with the essential elements of a high-performance website. These include:

• Navigation and organization: Make it easy for searchers to explore your website content. Start with a well-labeled menu in an easy-to-read font. There should be separate pages for unit sizes/prices, property services/amenities and map/directions. If you provide unique storage solutions such as vehicle or wine storage, use a separate page to feature them as well.
• Content and visual elements: Let searchers take an online tour of your property through a welcoming home page and photos of the grounds, office, unit types and parking. If you’re in a highly competitive area, consider adding a video tour.
• Unit pricing and availability: Customers need to know what units you offer, including sizes, a short description and a starting price. Including a floor-plan sketch of each unit including sample furniture, boxes, etc., will help renters visualize their items in your space. Some self-storage companies offer real-time pricing and availability on their website so prospects know exactly what they have to offer and for how much.
• Online engagement: Potential and current renters should be able to complete their customer journey online. This includes selecting a unit, reviewing and signing a contract, paying rent, and contacting your property manager.
• Search engine optimization (SEO): Without proper SEO, you can have pages of well-written content, bright photos and the very best amenities in town but still miss out on your share of relevant Web traffic. Optimize your website by tagging the right keywords within your HTML, headlines and images so potential customers find you via search engines.
• Third-party interaction: Make sure that wherever potential renters find you, they’re led to your website. A complete online presence includes a Google My Business page, social media, review websites and additional business listings. Your visual content, contact information and unit information should be consistent across all these platforms.

Designer Notes

Chances are, you’re going to outsource your Web design to a third party. If your designer doesn’t know the self-storage industry, bring him up to speed on your company, goals, audience and content. First, describe in detail what you need from your website, using visuals, design lingo and action items. Second, ask questions and respond with feedback. Finally, remember that most design decisions come down to time or money. Know which is more important and how it may change your overall vision for the project.

In the end, you want to give online searchers a reason to call, stop by your facility or lease a unit. You can encourage these actions on your website in several ways—through photos, video tours, unit descriptions, and overall layout and organization. Your website is the first point of contact for most prospective renters, so it needs to reflect what makes your property unique. But it’s more than that; it should deliver qualified leads straight to your management team. The right design does just that.

Celena Canode is a marketing campaign manager at G5, a provider of Digital Experience Management software and services to the self-storage industry. It’s a predictive marketing software-as-a-service company that uses artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to help marketers amplify their impact. G5’s Creative Studio combines deep real estate industry experience, performance-driven creative design and a passion for making brands stand out. For more information, call 800.656.8183; visit www.getg5.com. 

There are many ways to increase self-storage revenue that require planning, know-how and resources, but most aren’t guaranteed to result in a return on investment. With myriad responsibilities and daily duties to handle, facility managers can confidently impact profit simply by doing their jobs well.

In this video filmed at the 2018 Inside Self-Storage (ISS) World Expo, Jim Mooney Jr., vice president of operations at Devon Self Storage, and Stephanie Tharpe, senior vice president of operations at A+ Storage of Tennessee LLC, offer the “Top Things Self-Storage Managers Can Do to Increase Facility Revenue Without Even Trying.” From handling customer inquiries and improving ancillary sales to earning referrals and edging out competition, our experts provide insight to proven profit strategies that work every time.

Whether you’re new to the industry or a seasoned veteran, there’s something for every site manager to discover in this session, which is available at the ISS Store in DVD and on-demand formats. Start increasing your facility revenue, today!

The Inside Self-Storage (ISS) Store, an e-commerce website providing research and education products for industry professionals, has released the “Self-Storage Maintenance Package 2019: Monthly Task Calendars and Guide.” Designed for facility managers, the bundle includes detailed, customizable monthly calendars for 2019, which outline tasks by day, week and season. It also includes a 64-page digital book containing expert advice on industry-related maintenance.

“With competition becoming ever more fierce in many markets, it’s paramount to maintain and enhance property value,” said Tony Jones, ISS Store Manager. “Not only are poorly kept facilities unattractive to tenants and prospects, they can present more safety hazards and expose operators to liability. The maintenance-calendar package is a great resource to help managers stay on top of site maintenance and scheduling throughout the year.”

The monthly task calendars are color-coded for weekly, monthly, quarterly, seasonal and annual tasks. Each page also includes a list of daily maintenance responsibilities. Some months include callout reminders and tips for things like vacant-unit inspection and door cleaning. Contents are available through a downloadable zip file, which includes 12 individual calendars in PDF and Microsoft Word formats. The customizable Word templates allow managers to alter the calendars to fit their particular maintenance schedule and needs. A no-fuss, 12-month 2019 task calendar in PDF format is also included for those who wish to print the entire year without having to access individual files.

The “Self-Storage Maintenance Guide,” in PDF format, contains 23 articles related to facility upkeep. Topics include curb appeal, general tips and tricks, door cleaning and conservation, pest control, roof care, security-component maintenance, and service outsourcing. Though the guide includes many of the same articles that were published in 2018, it also features new material for 2019.

Priced at $99, the new package is available for purchase at iss-store.com.

Conceived as a central hub that allows self-storage owners, operators, developers and investors to obtain cutting-edge information and resources, the ISS Store is owned and operated by ISS, a dynamic services provider that has served the self-storage industry for more than 27 years. The brand includes ISS magazine, the ISS Expo and Self-Storage Talk, the industry’s largest online community.

Update 12/3/18 – Collins was indicted on Nov. 29 on second-degree murder and obstruction of justice in connection with Dunkley’s death. His bond was also increased to $400,000 by ad hoc criminal district judge Dennis Waldron after the indictment was read, according to a source.

Assistant district attorney Abigail MacDonald presented the case to the grand jury, while Collins was represented by private attorney Joseph Rome during his initial appearance.

Update 5/30/18 – Collins was booked into the Orleans Justice Center on May 24 on a second-degree murder charge in connection with Dunkley’s death. The suspect also received a simple battery charge from the separate 2011 case. Bond was set at $350,000, according to the source.

A witness reported seeing a U-Haul truck leaving the scene after hearing gunshots. Video footage recorded at the property shows a pickup truck and a U-Haul enter through the main gate. Dunkley exited the U-Haul, while three other men got out of the pickup. All four unloaded furniture from the rental truck, according to the arrest warrant.

At one point, Dunkley and one of the men walked behind the U-Haul, which obscured the camera’s view. The other man appears back on camera a short while later “tucking what appears to be an object into his waistband,” before driving away in the pickup truck. The two other men left the property in the U-Haul, the warrant states.

When police released a photo of one of the suspects and asked the public’s help in identifying him, Collins called detectives and identified himself as the man captured in the video shot, the source reported. Collins told police he was in the area around the time Dunkley was killed but didn’t have any knowledge of the crime.

Investigators determined Collins matches the man in the photo and obtained a warrant for his arrest on May 3. He was arrested on May 8 and was held in St. Charles Parish until being transferred last Thursday.

No pending court dates were reported.

5/10/18 – New Orleans police have arrested David Collins, 37, in connection with the murder of Kevin Dunkley, the 38-year-old shooting victim found dead in a drive aisle at the CubeSmart self-storage facility on Behrman Highway. Collins, who was arrested on May 8, has a history of violence, according to the source.

The suspect had an outstanding warrant for his arrest stemming from a simple battery charge related to a May 2011 incident. He pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in a separate case in February 2011. Police indicated Collins would be booked on the outstanding battery charge as well as homicide charges related to the Dunkley murder, the source reported.

No motive or details on why the shooting may have occurred were reported. It’s also not clear what led police to arrest Collins as a suspect.

4/20/18 – A man was discovered shot to death Wednesday at a CubeSmart self-storage facility in Algiers, La. Police were called to the property at 3901 Behrman Highway about 9:18 p.m. The man, who was pronounced dead at the scene, had been shot in the chest, according to the source.

He was found lying in the area between two rows of storage units, said Aaron Looney, a spokesperson for the New Orleans Police Department, which is investigating the shooting. A woman arrived at the storage facility around 10:40 p.m. She opened the door to the facility office and was followed inside by officers, the source reported. It isn’t clear who the woman was or if she was detained by police.

Police have yet to release the man’s name or more information about the crime. Anyone with information can call Crimestoppers at 877.903.STOP.

CubeSmart is a self-storage real estate investment trust that owns or manages 987 self-storage facilities across the United States. Its operating portfolio comprises more than 60.5 million square feet.

Source:
The Times-Picayune, Man Booked on Murder Charge in Connection With Algiers Storage Center Shooting
The Times-Picayune, Man Arrested in April Fatal Shooting at Algiers Storage Facility: NOPD
The Times-Picayune, Man Found Shot to Death at Algiers Self-Storage: NOPD

Many self-storage operators wonder if it makes sense to outsource incoming phone calls to a call center. To borrow a phrase from my favorite math teacher, the answer is always the same: “It depends.” Specifically, it depends on your understanding of the benefits and whether it’s worth the investment.

Call-center outsourcing is a business approach that ensures a third party is available to answer some, most or all your incoming customer calls. If you’re skeptical that you should focus on phone calls in the Age of the Internet, consider that 34 percent of all first contacts to self-storage facilities occur via the phone, according to the 2017 Self-Storage Demand Study published by the national Self Storage Association. The same study indicated that nearly 60 percent of all customers rent from the first facility they’re able to reach. With that in mind, can you risk missing any calls?

The 10,000-Hour Rule

Granted, it can be scary to place your trust in a third party. It’s natural to be skeptical that call-center agents won’t be as proficient as your team or you’ll be left wondering if they’re doing a great job. To alleviate these anxieties, make sure any partner you’re considering has established key performance indicators (KPIs) to increase rentals and occupancy while creating a better customer experience. A quality partner should make it easy for customers to rent from your facility.

In his book, “Outliers,” author Malcolm Gladwell introduced the “10,000-hour rule,” which suggests that people reach expert status in a given function by completing 10,000 hours of that activity or occupation. This can correlate to the number of times a self-storage professional conducts a sales presentation. A typical call-center agent will handle 75 to 113 sales calls per day, equaling nearly 30,000 sales calls/presentations per year. Assuming your property manager has eight walk-in and phone opportunities per day, it would take him about 30 years to complete as many sales presentations as a typical full-time, call-center storage counselor!

Available Services

Call-center services are wide and varied. Here’s a rundown of key service terms and what they mean.

• Interactive voice response (IVR): A technology that allows a computer to interact with humans through voice and DTMF (dual-tone multi-frequency) tones input via a keypad; can be integrated with your facility-management software
• Text-collection services: Uses text messaging to communicate with and collect rent from past-due tenants; can be integrated with your facility-management software
• All calls: Call center answers all inbound calls
• Rollover calls: Call center answers calls that aren’t answered by facility staff within a defined number of seconds or rings
• Sales calls only: Call center answers only inbound sales calls, determined by IVR selection or database verification of the customer as new or existing
• Live chat: Live, interactive support for website visitors
• Social media support: Call center uses platforms like Facebook and Twitter to offer customer support
• SMS: Short message service, commonly referred as text support
• Do-it-yourself platform: Operator supplies labor, call center supplies software tools
• Web leads: Outbound calls to Web forms

Call-Center Benefits

Let’s examine some of the key benefits call centers can bring to your self-storage business.

Operational flexibility. When an organization outsources its calls, it adds predictable elasticity to its inbound and, in many cases, outbound call capacity. This is extremely important for self-storage operations. Call volume shifts as much as 50 percent by day and up to 200 percent by 15-minute intervals. Having access to a large, flexible workforce to handle call volume is extremely important, particularly May through September.

Enhanced customer experience. Having the right number of storage consultants available to answer calls within an acceptable wait time enhances the customer experience. “Customer patience” is the amount of time a prospect or tenant will wait on the phone for an answer before he hangs up out of frustration. Research shows that patience is 20 seconds or less if the customer is attempting to make a purchase or reservation, 30 seconds or less if it’s a service call and 45 seconds or less if it’s a call to make a payment.

Greater staff productivity. The most enticing benefit of a call center is that you never miss a sales call from a potential tenant, but equally important, it gives your property managers time to focus on selling your facility’s features and benefits to walk-in customers. Let your facility manager be the “onsite closer” in addition to completing day-to-day operational duties like site walk-throughs, lock checks, site tours and other administrative tasks.

Cost-effectiveness. If you’re a numbers person, you know the importance of consistently and effectively controlling your standard operating expenses to improve net operating income. Additional rental income can make a huge difference in property valuation. To gauge return on investment for call-center outsourcing, ask yourself how much 10 to 20 additional rentals per month would add to your site’s total value.

Access to advanced technology. The internal costs associated with creating, maintaining and adding integrated telephony platforms with multi/omnichannel capabilities are extremely expensive. Purchasing a fully integrated call-center solution can easily cost six to seven figures for just the one-time hardware and software fees, not including labor or software licenses. Outsourcing gives you access to the technology at a much lower cost. To achieve the best integration with your business, ensure that your call-center provider has a direct application programming interface (API) with your facility-management software.

Selecting a Partner

When it comes to hiring a call center, do your due diligence. Don’t be shy about asking for and calling references. Review the vendor’s current-year KPI data on service-level performance by call type. Review its workforce management and forecasting approach and tools. Most importantly, tour the call center, listen to calls and meet the management team to get a good sense of the work culture. Technological advancements make it more important than ever to find a partner that can integrate with your management software while also offering a culture and focus capable of creating a low-friction customer experience for your tenants and prospects.

Dan Scaman is vice president of strategic planning and analysis for OpenTech Alliance Inc., a Phoenix-based provider of self-storage kiosks, call-center services and other technology. He has 30 years of experience operating large call centers, including 20 for Fortune 500 companies as a senior operations leader managing multiple U.S. call and distribution centers. For more information, call 800.481.7459; e-mail [email protected]; visit www.opentechalliance.com.

Storage King, one of the United Kingdom’s largest self-storage companies, is geared for growth following its acquisition by South Africa-based Stor-Age Property REIT. The company aims to develop more than 14 stores in the next five years in response to predicted industry expansion.

It’s been nearly a year since Stor-Age purchased a controlling interest in Storage King. The deal was part of the REIT’s initiative to pursue international expansion opportunities. The Storage King portfolio of 13 owned facilities and 12 properties under licensing and management agreements, primarily in Southeast England, was the ideal acquisition for Stor-Age’s first foray outside of South Africa.

“Storage King offers established critical mass through a high-quality portfolio, proven local expertise, and a track record in self-storage with consistent earnings growth, especially over the past three years,” says Gavin Lucas, CEO of Stor-Age, which operates 50 facilities. “This provides us with a strong and scalable platform, with in-place management for future growth and expansion."

The deal was also enticing for the U.K. operator, as Stor-Age has a management team with considerable operations expertise. It was this factor that interested Storage King CEO Robin Greenwood. “I have had a business relationship with the directors of Stor-Age for the past decade, so when our private-equity partners were looking to exit the investment, it was a natural decision to contact Stor-Age to see if the portfolio would be of interest,” Greenwood says.

Self-storage is a growth sector globally, not only in emerging markets, but also in the first world. “The U.K. self-storage market is a significant growth opportunity,” Gavin says. “It offers a more robust macro environment, but with a relative undersupply of self-storage compared to the United States and Australia, and a language, culture and regulatory system familiar to us in South Africa.”

Pipeline for Growth

In 2015, Stor-Age was South Africa’s first (and currently only) self-storage fund to list on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, when it was mooted for ushering in a new era of specialist listings. Although it has replaced Storage King’s existing investors, the U.K. company’s structure has remained the same. Despite the geographic distance, Stor-Age insisted it come on board as an involved management team. Already, Storage King has seen a reinvigoration of momentum and a pipeline for growth.

“Following the acquisition, both companies have been working on a strategic expansion and development plan that involves increasing the portfolio from the current 26 stores to more than 40 stores over the next five years,” Greenwood says. This includes acquisitions of current competitors, new developments, and the launch of a fully managed operational service to oversee and run stores for third parties under the Storage King banner.

Storage King hopes to keep pace with the industry’s projected growth in the country. The 2018 Annual Industry Report produced by the Self Storage Association UK (SSA-UK) shows the U.K. holds 48 percent of the European self-storage market. “This is particularly interesting when one considers the size of the U.K. relative to the rest of the Europe,” Greenwood says. The U.K. contains 0.674 square feet of storage per head of population, whereas Europe is at 0.192 square feet. With demand outstripping supply, the outlook is extremely positive.

The same report revealed that demand for self-storage space in the U.K. is growing faster than supply, with occupancy rising 3 percent in 2017. All regions of the country are experiencing growth, with the main focus around the more established areas of London and the Southeast, Greenwood notes.

The self-storage sector has also remained resilient post-Brexit and the 2012 imposition of the value-added tax on rentals. “It’s, therefore, an attractive investment given the defensive nature of the asset class,” Gavin says. “The U.K. has a largely undersupplied market relative to first-world peers such as the United States and Australia and, thus, we expect to see this growth continue in the near future. Self-storage is relatively new to Europe and the asset class is still in the education phase. Even in the U.K., only 46 percent of people have a good or reasonable understanding of the product, according to the SSA-UK report.”

Industry Challenges

Despite excellent growth in a slow economy, the U.K. self-storage industry still faces several challenges. It’s remains in its educational phase, as many customers don’t understand how the product works. Many operators believe a key driver of anticipated growth is more consumers becoming aware of the benefits. The lack of suitable locations and availability as well as the cost of land are additional barriers. However, these can be overcome by an experienced development team.

Storage King is addressing another consumer demand: up-to-date technology and security. Its website includes a four-step guide to help new tenants find and rent a unit, while its properties address security with pin-code entry and video cameras. The market appears to be responding well to the company’s offering of convenient and accessible business and personal storage. Storage King promises to be one to watch in the coming months.

Rob Baird has a thorough understanding of the self-storage industry in South Africa and the United Kingdom as well as extensive experience in the media industry. He contributes articles on behalf of Storage King, a U.K. storage company that has provided services business and personal self-storage since 2004. For more information, visit www.storageking.co.uk.