Police in Las Cruces, N.M., arrested a man they believe burglarized self-storage units at two facilities. The man was also a tenant at both facilities.

South Main Self Storage and Telshor Self Storage were each burglarized 36 times between Jan. 21 and March 24. Marcus A. Ortiz was captured on video surveillance using bolt cutters to cut padlocks and remove items from the units. Police suspect Ortiz had an accomplice on at least one of those occasions.

Ortiz has been charged with two counts of non-residential burglary and one count of possession of burglary tools.

Source:  KRWG,  Arrests In Storage Unit Thefts

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Janus International has entered a joint-venture agreement with Grupo Metal Intra (GMI) to form a Mexico-based roll-up door manufacturing firm, IntraJanus. Headquartered in Mexico City, the company will manufacture a wide assortment of mini, commercial and rolling steel doors as well as self-storage hallway systems. More information will be available at Intrajanus.com.mx in the late spring.
 
“With GMI’s background in the building-products market and Janus’ expertise in rolling doors and associated systems, our combined strengths will greatly enhance the Mexican market,” said Janus President David Curtis.
 
Headquartered in Temple, Ga., Janus is a manufacturer of commercial and industrial doors and building components for self-storage and an array of other industries.
 
GMI is based in San Juan de Rio, Mexico, and specializes in industrial, residential and commercial building products.

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Inside Self-Storage magazine has released its 2010 Top-Operators List, ranking 100 of the self-storage industry's foremost operators based on total net-rentable square footage. The list, now available in a downloadable PDF, ranks dozens of facility and brand owners, independents, developers and property-management companies. The data also features number of locations and units, expansion plans and contact information.

The top five self-storage companies participating in this year's survey are: 

1. Public Storage Inc.—Founded in 1972, the Glendale, Calif.-based storage operator owns 2,197 facilities in 39 states.
2. Extra Space Storage—The Salt Lake City-based company was founded in 1977. It operates 760 facilities with a total square footage of 55 million.
3. U-Haul International Inc.—Founded in 1945, U-Haul is one of the oldest companies in the industry. The Phoenix-based company owns 1,073 facilities nationwide.
4. Sovran Self Storage Inc.—Founded in 1982, the Buffalo, N.Y.-based company has nearly 25 million square feet of self-storage in 381 facilities.
5. U-Store-It Trust—Founded in 2004, this Wayne, Pa., company has 24 million square feet of self-storage space in 375 facilities throughout 27 states. 

The ISS Top-Operators list is featured in the April print edition of ISS magazine and is available online now at www.insideselfstorage.com/ebooks. Any company wishing to be considered for the 2011 list should complete the online form at www.insideselfstorage.com/top_ops_form.

ISS is a dynamic-services company that provides resources and services to the self-storage industry including a monthly magazine, bi-annual tradeshows, an information-packed website and educational seminars and materials. ISS is also the owner of the Self-Storage Training Institute (www.selfstorageeducation.com), an online education portal for managers and owners, and Self-Storage Talk (www.selfstoragetalk.com), the industry’s largest online community.

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Storage Deluxe is building a new self-storage facility in Queens, N.Y. The Manhattan-based developer and operator purchased three-quarters of an acre in College Point for $13.3 million. The developer obtained $8.2 million in financing from M&T Bank for the construction and development.

The facility will have 65,000 square feet of rentable storage space with 1,150 self-storage units.

“In this financial climate, Storage Deluxe continues to be committed to finding great locations in densely populated areas where we can add to our existing New York City footprint,” said Steve Novenstein, president of Storage Deluxe Realty.

Storage Deluxe owns 31 self-storage facilities in the New York metropolitan area.

Source:  Crain’s New York Business,  Development Deal Yields Queens Storage Facility

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Empower Software Technologies Inc. released Storage Commander PLUS, a re-packaged and re-priced version of the company’s Storage Commander self-storage management software that was released 11 years ago. The new PLUS version allows for remote facility management through the Internet, including online payments and reservations. Other features include a graphical site map and a point-and-click user interface.
 
The new software operates locally at the facility while automatically maintaining a mirror image of the database at a centralized Internet server (data replication). This allows facility managers and owners full access to site-management functions even if the facility’s Internet connection is down.
 
The software carries only a one-time cost―no monthly leasing fees.

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Self-storage industry experts from nationwide will gather at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colo., on April 17 for the U-Store-It Trust first annual advisory board meeting. The members of the 2010 board, representing several large, successful self-storage companies, will be discussing the state of the industry. The members are: 

• Jeff Anderson, Stor-All Storage
• Mike Burnham, StorageMart
• Michael Haugh, Absolute Storage Management
• Bill Hobin, The William Warren Group
• David Levenfeld, Storage Opportunity Partners LLC
• Bruce Manley, United Stor-All Centers, Inc.
• Jesse Morgan, Self-Storage Consultant
• Arlen Nordhagen, SecurCare Self-Storage Inc.
• Kurt O'Brien, Simply Self-Storage
• Bob Schoff, National Self-Storage
• Richard Stern, Investment Real Estate Consulting
• Gary Sugarman, Manhattan Mini-Storage
• Allan Sweet, Safeguard Self-Storage
• Pete Williams, Premier Self-Storage 

"With so much change and growth going on in our industry, we wanted to bring together self-storage leaders from across to country to talk about trends and challenges, and discuss ways that we can move our businesses forward," said Dean Jernigan, U-Store-It CEO. "We are confident that the collaboration among this vested group will deliver some valuable observations and key takeaways that will serve as points of emphasis for our companies and the industry going forward. We appreciate the interest and enthusiasm that we have received from all the individuals and companies that we invited to participate in this event."

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The downturn in the economy has hurt most self-storage businesses financially but has also fostered a change in the way customers and facilities interact. Operators have noticed an impeding impact on their bottom line and refocused their attention on the consumer.

They’re asking themselves questions such as: What drives customers to their facilities? What more can they do to exceed customers’ expectations, fulfill their needs and increase loyalty? How can they maximize the revenue from the leads and tenants they already have? That’s where customer relationship management (CRM) enters the picture. 

What is CRM?

CRM refers to the methods companies use to interact with customers and prospects. In the self-storage industry, CRM systems should focus on managing contacts: active tenants, inactive tenants, prospects who make inquiries, and prospects who make reservations and ask for quotes.

A CRM system designed for self-storage integrates with your management software as well as your call center and phone systems, streamlines processes, and simplifies your overall operation. Your management and CRM software should share one central database where call-center agents, store managers, district managers and executives can have instant access to tenant and prospect information, including history.

Some CRM applications provide an online chat feature. This allows prospects to connect to your website, enter their phone number, name and e-mail ID, and start chatting or request a phone call. In addition to providing another sales tool, the chat feature provides another avenue for current tenants to connect with you and discuss issues.

Another feature common to CRM systems is an e-mail manager. This allows the corporate office to e-mail all contacts—active tenants, inactive tenants and prospects. It also provides important statistics on the results of each e-mail campaign, such as percentage of opens, opt-outs and undelivered.

We recently spoke with three self-storage operators about how they’ve benefited from CRM systems. George Abdow is CFO of eZStorage, a company with 44 facilities throughout Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Wendy Elliott is the sales center director of Stor-All, which has 44 facilities in five states. Dave Ratliff is the area manager for A-1 Self Storage, a company with 38 facilities throughout California. 

What is the main focus of CRM?

Abdow: CRM is for establishing relationships with existing customers, with the goal of delivering an industry-exceeding customer experience. We want to deliver the highest quality experience so potential and existing customers conclude they have only one real choice.

Elliott: The customer! For me, having CRM is like having a crystal ball. I know who is calling, how many times they called and, most important, why they’re calling. All of this provides better customer service, company-wide awareness, and the tool needed to create solid targeted marketing campaigns.

Ratliff: We have two primary goals in launching CRM. One is to improve our tracking of people who contact us about renting a unit. The second is to help us more efficiently follow up with those people. 

Are off-the-shelf CRM applications suitable for the self-storage industry?

Abdow:Based on our evaluation of several off-the-shelf solutions, we believe they would require significant customization to serve our needs.

Elliott: Not necessarily. When we looked at a few of the off-the-shelf providers, it was more about fitting into their world, how they defined a customer and their needs vs. our world and what’s valuable to us as a company.

Ratliff: I imagine there’s something out there that would work, but all the integration issues and the hidden costs associated concerned us.

What are the main factors a self-storage operator should consider when choosing a CRM application?

Abdow: Our main factors were integration with our existing POS, business-intelligence and call-center applications.

Elliott: Look for someone who listens and understands your industry. Can they make customizations based on your needs? Are they available for you at all times?

Ratliff: First, figure out exactly what your goals are—what you do have to have and what would be nice to have. Then, figure out how whatever you’re looking at matches up, and how it will integrate with your current systems.

Dave Skarzynski is the senior sales rep and Sachin Bhakta is vice president of development for E-SoftSys, a provider of management software for the self-storage industry. Products include Self Storage Manager, in Windows-based Standard Edition or Web-based Enterprise Edition, and add-on modules such as e-CRM, a contact-management module with e-mail campaign and online chat features. For more information, call 800.469.1740; e-mail [email protected]; visit www.selfstoragemanager.com.

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Agents of Marcus & Millichap sold Highway 79 Super Storage in Temecula, Calif., for $7 million, a reported 93 percent of the asking price. Nick Walker and Michelle Watson of the company’s National Self Storage Group and Jake Steele and Andy Glinski of its Special Assets Group represented the buyer and the seller in the transaction.

 
The 89,343-square-foot facility sits on approximately 3.5 acres and consists of 700 storage units. It was developed in 2006 and is 71 percent physically occupied. The includes amenities such as individual unit alarms, security cameras, drive-up access, an electronically controlled entry system and others.

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