Bloomington, Ind.-based Storage Express has acquired a self-storage facility in Columbus, Ohio, the company’s first in the city and sixth in the Buckeye State. The 35,000-square-foot property is in Southeast Columbus on Chatterton Road, just south of I-70. The company plans to upgrade the site with new security and access-control features, a 24-hour rental center and other amenities.

Storage Express intends to expand in Ohio along the I-70 and I-75 corridors, according to a company press release. It also recently expanded its presence in the Indianapolis-metro storage market through acquisitions, and has plans for new construction in several areas.

Storage Express owns and operates 84 self-storage properties in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.

If you’re still not convinced that first impressions have a huge bearing on the success of your self-storage business, read this excerpt from “Statistics on First Impressions” from match.com:

Statistics based on research reveal that the first impressions are largely affected by an individual’s image. It is said that in about the first 30 seconds of our encounter, the first impression is created. In fact, to be precise, there is ample research that supports the notion that the first impression is formed in the first seven to 17 seconds itself. This first impression is based 55 percent on appearance, 7 percent on the words we use during course of our conversation and 38 percent on the tone of the voice.

The statistics related to first impressions alter with face-to-face interactions and telephonic conversations. During a face-to-face encounter, 93 percent judgment is based on nonverbal input that includes one’s appearance and body language; while only 7 percent rests on the words one utters.

In comparison to this, during a telephonic conversation, 70 percent of the opinion is influenced by the tone of the voice and 30 percent depends on the words one speaks. This data clearly showcases that in a personalized meeting, the first impression is about one’s outer portrayal; while over the phone what matters is how one speaks rather than what one says.

This goes to show that even before we get sufficient time to demonstrate our capabilities, the first impression is already cast. In a matter of seconds an opinion is formed, and the main consideration for this first impact are clothes, body language and attitude. This holds true for a business as well as romance. We all know the first impression is most often irrevocable in the minds of many, and it stays that way for a long time. Since it’s so important, shouldn’t we strive to do it right?

It’s busy season in the self-storage industry, a good time to take a renewed look at the first impression you’re offering to customers. What do people experience when they call or visit your facility? Here are some tips to enhance your first impression that won’t cost a lot of money but will have a big return.

Staff Appearance

Since 55 percent of first impressions are based on appearance, focus on this aspect of your staff. If uniforms are stained, wrinkled, ripped or worn, it leaves a bad impression. When you see that hole under the arm or bleach stain, you can be sure customers do, too. Fortunately, there’s an easy fix.

It’s your business, so set the dress code and the expectations. Survey your staff and replace uniforms as needed. Supply replacement shirts for the staff once or twice a year to keep up that professional appearance. Check shoes, too. It’s a nice morale booster for the staff if you buy them new shoes once in a while.

Encourage employees to be mindful of their appearance. It’s better to be a bit overdressed than sloppy. When they look good, tell them they look nice and are wearing the uniform well. This will reinforce the image. Presenting a professional-looking staff will not go unnoticed by your tenants.

Office Sights and Smells

Walk into your office from the front door. What do you see or smell in the first seven to 17 seconds? Does the office look and feel its age? It may just need a good cleaning and air freshener, or it may be time for an update. Sometimes, even when something isn’t broken, you do need to fix it.

Take a look around at the things that have “been like that for a while” and make a point to repair them. Whether it’s the office chair with a broken arm, the copier that makes copies with a streak down the right side or the cracked coffee pot, don’t wait until it breaks completely. Keep up on the little things to maintain your image. The office is where you often create your facility’s first impression, so make it count.

The In-Office Greeting

Make a great first impression when people come through your door by standing up, making eye contact and offering a friendly “hello.” It really is that simple. A smile and a handshake is a bonus, and it all starts with how you treat your staff. Set the example for how people are greeted when they enter your establishment. When you visit the store, make it a point to greet each staff member with a handshake and eye contact.

When tenants enter, don’t slink around in the background. Instead, greet them with a kind word and a smile. Take a break from what you’re doing and chat for a minute or two. You’ll be amazed at what you can learn about your own business by talking with tenants.

Say the words “thank you” at every opportunity. Let your customers know you value their choice to do business with you. Your staff should be genuinely pleased to see each and every person who walks through your door and treat all of them pleasantly. If they don’t see you doing it, why should they? Visit some of your competitors to see what kind of greeting you receive. It shouldn’t be difficult to exceed the best you find.

Over the Phone

Many things have changed over the years in this industry, but good phone skills remain the key to success. The prospect often makes a decision about your business based on that first phone call. Does your manager sound bored, bothered or indifferent? Does he say the name of your business so fast the caller doesn’t understand or, worse, fails to say the name at all?

Don’t settle for a manager with poor phone skills. He might be a nine out of 10 on everything else, but if he’s a zero on the phone, you’ll never be as successful as you could and should be.

Phone-sales training is an ongoing process. Continual practice, evaluation and retraining is required to keep these skills sharp.

How one speaks makes all the difference. Remind staff to prepare themselves before answering the phone. They should stand, smile and be genuinely ready to have a conversation that will result in a solution for the caller and business for you. Develop and practice with employees on the words, body language, demeanor and tone to use when answering the phone. When 70 percent of the first impression on the phone is a how you speak rather than what you say, it’s important for staff to understand how they’re being perceived by the caller.

Using tools like mystery-shopper companies or call recording to monitor how your business is being represented to new customers is now standard practice. The quickest and easiest way to turn things around is to put laser focus on how phone calls are handled.

It’s easy to present a good first impression, but you must be proactive and incorporate it into the core of your business. Present yourself as the example for how people should be greeted and develop a standard phone etiquette that’s practiced with every call. Put a critical eye to the impression people get when entering your establishment and fix what can be easily fixed. First impressions matter! As quoted by John D. Rockefeller Jr., “The secret of success is to do the common things uncommonly well.”

Linnea Appleby is the owner of Lime Tree Management, a self-storage management and consulting firm in Sarasota, Fla. For more information, call 941.350.7859; e-mail [email protected], visit www.limetreemanagement.com.

The Inside Self-Storage (ISS) Store, an e-commerce website providing research and education products for industry professionals, is now offering three “Key of Knowledge” USB-drive kits featuring training materials on storage facility ownership and management. The key-like thumb drives contain resources created by Bob Copper, owner of Self Storage 101, a consulting firm specializing in operational improvement, training, audits, feasibility and market studies, and due diligence. Contents include video presentations, articles, workbooks and PowerPoint presentations.

Priced from $49.95 to $89.95, the USB drives are available for purchase at insideselfstoragestore.com.

The Complete Facility-Operation Kit contains a comprehensive set of written and recorded training materials on self-storage auditing, collections, customer service, marketing, revenue management, sales and more. This product offers the best value of the three drives and contains almost all of the material on the other two keys in addition to several operational resources.

Highlights include two customizable books, “Self Storage Employee Handbook” and “Self Storage Facility Operations Manual,” as well as full digital versions of Copper’s “Complete Self Storage Handbook,” “Managing a Self Storage Facility” and “Revenue Management 101: Using Effective Techniques to Increase Revenues and Asset Value.” The drive also contains videos on auditing, collections, customer service and sales training.

The Manager-Training Kit contains an essential set of written and recorded training materials designed to train self-storage managers on collections, customer service, sales and more. Highlights include a digital version of Copper’s “Managing a Self Storage Facility” book; videos on collections, customer service and sales; and a workbook on effective phone skills.

The Ownership Kit is designed to help operators increase business profitability. This USB drive contains written and recorded training materials on self-storage auditing, marketing, revenue management and other topics. Highlights include digital versions of the “Complete Self Storage Handbook,” “Managing a Self Storage Facility” and “Revenue Management 101: Using Effective Techniques to Increase Revenues and Asset Value.” It also contains presentation slides and a workbook for an owner-operator leadership workshop and a video presentation on conducting a facility audit.

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 nearly 25 years. The brand includes ISS magazine, the ISS Expo and Self-Storage Talk, the industry’s largest online community.

Father-and-son race-car drivers recently grabbed the top two places in an Uncle Bob’s Self Storage Street Stocks race at the Montgomery Motor Speedway (MMS) in Montgomery, Ala. Father Dwayne Wesenberg finished first in the June 14 race, while his teenage son, Kameron, finished second. Dwayne has been racing since 1987, while Kameron started just two years ago at age 16.

"He's still coming around," Dwayne told the source about his son. "He'll be up there with me beating and banging with me for a long time."

Dwayne is currently the points leader in the street-stock standings for which Uncle Bob’s is the title sponsor. The street-stock division typically races every two weeks at MMS between March 29 and Sept. 6. Most races are 30 laps around the half-mile track, although street stocks were featured on May 31 in a 50-lap race, with $1,000 going to the winner.

“We are really excited to feature the street-stock division,” track general manager Stan Narrison said in a press release prior to the May 31 race. “We have seen some of the best races with these cars this season. The fans love them because they look like throwback stock cars, and the drivers are real interesting individuals.”

Kameron placed fifth in the May 31 race, beating his dad, who placed seventh.

Although Dwayne began his racing career as a youngster, it took some convincing before he believed Kameron had the passion and commitment to pick up his dad’s hobby. Kameron watched NASCAR as a little kid and frequently raced neighborhood friends. "Living in a neighborhood with nothing to do, we used to race bicycles around the tree and the truck in the yard," Kameron told the source. "Just race around in circles all day."

Once he was convinced, Dwayne made sure his son played an active role in car maintenance and preparation, and he oversaw Kameron’s driving development. "It's hard to tell somebody how to do it," he said. "But you can get out there and kind of let him follow you, watch your lines, tell him what's he doing wrong and try to correct him."

With his own career winding down, Dwayne said he is looking forward to helping Kameron improve. "I'll help him," the father said. "I got maybe a couple of years left, and then I want to totally put all the time and effort into him."

Uncle Bob’s Self Storage is owned by Sovran Self Storage Inc., a real estate investment trust that acquires and manages self-storage facilities. The company operates more than 475 facilities in 25 states, including 22 in Alabama and seven in the Montgomery area.

Troy Downing, CEO of AC Self Storage Solutions LLC, has joined the board for Charity Storage, a not-for-profit foundation that raises money for charitable causes. Downing has been a long-time supporter, funder, advisor and volunteer for many charitable organizations, supporting U.S. veterans, education and medical research, according to an AC Self Storage press release. He’s also a volunteer and supporter of the Warriors & Quiet Waters Foundation (WQW), a Montana-based charity that offers therapeutic recreational programs for injured U.S. veterans.

“I am honored Charity Storage has reached out to me to fill a seat on their board,” Downing said. “This is a great organization with a great idea that helps so many other worthy organizations raise funds to support their charitable work. This is good for the community, good for the storage operators who partner with Charity Storage, and an easy step in our efforts to make the world a better place.”

Created by Lance Watkins, founder of the self-storage auction site StorageTreasures.com, Charity Storage donates the proceeds from self-storage lien sales to local and national charities. Participating storage operators dedicate a storage unit from inventory as a collection point for donated goods. Departing and current tenants, auction buyers, and local residents and businesses can donate items to the Charity Storage unit and receive a tax-deductible receipt.

When the storage facility holds a public auction, the unit is sold alongside tenant-delinquent units, and the money generated is allocated to local and national organizations including Kure It Cancer Research, a nonprofit dedicated to funding kidney and other cancer research. AC Self Storage recently launched a program at all 11 of its facilities through which funds will be donated to Kure It and WQW.

Additional organizations supported by Charity Storage include Child Abuse Prevention Center, Coachella Valley Rescue Mission, Ocean Institute, RePets Animal Rescue, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, The Maddie James Foundation and many more.

AC Self Storage Solutions has offices in Carlsbad and Newport Beach, Calif., and operates facilities in California, Colorado, Nevada, Tennessee and Texas.

Iron Gate Self Storage in Littlestown, Pa., recently sold for $280,000. The property at 4836 Baltimore Pike consists of 7,200 gross square feet of storage space and 55 units. It opened in 1998 with one building, with a second added in 2002. The facility sits on 1.2 acres that includes an asphalt pad for outside parking and a 150-square-foot rental office. It's located along Baltimore Pike (Route 97), a main north/south artery serving Littlestown, a borough in Adams County.

Recent site improvements include two single-story metal buildings with screw-down metal roofs from Heritage Building Systems, a paved entrance, gravel driveways, exterior lighting, and a keypad-operated automatic gate. The property also includes a billboard that’s leased to Trone Outdoor Advertising through mid-2017.

Investment Real Estate LLC, , a York-Pa.-based brokerage firm that specializes in the self-storage industry, brokered the transaction. Founded in 1998, the company also provides construction, management, consulting and development services to industry owners and investors.

 

 

 

MakeSpace Labs Inc., a startup business specializing in valet self-storage services in New York City, believes a local marketing campaign launched by Manhattan Mini Storage is aimed at its cloud-based, pickup-and-delivery business model. Manhattan Mini has purchased several billboards around the city warning customers: “Don’t trust the cloud.”

MakeSpace stores customer belongings in a secure warehouse. Customers receive an itemized, cloud-based catalog of their stored containers in which they can peruse their stuff online and request delivery of specific items. CEO Sam Rosen believes the Manhattan Mini ads are referring to this service.

Manhattan Mini officials have said the campaign, which launched in May, is about records storage. “We feel the message is highly appropriate, given the increasingly digital age we’re all living in … not to mention the number of horror stories we hear daily from people who have lost all their valuable data and information because they didn’t have hard-copy backups,” the company wrote in its May 1 blog.

The campaign was released shortly after MakeSpace announced it had raised $8 million in venture capital, bringing its total funding to $10.1 million since launching last September. Rosen told the source he believes the ads are "clearly tied to the splash [MakeSpace] is making."

MakeSpace has said it intends to use its latest capital to launch an iPhone app this summer, build out its backend infrastructure and hire additional sales representatives. The company also has plans to expand local services in another major city by the end of this year.

MakeSpace is similar to other recent startups like Boxbee Simple Urban Storage, Remote Garage and Storrage Inc., which offer customers pickup, delivery and bin-storage services through an online platform.

Adam Sank, communications manager for Manhattan Mini, denied Rosen’s assertion that the billboards are targeting the startup, telling the source: "Our 'cloud' ad—one of nearly 10 that make up our new campaign—refers to virtual storage, as in the iPhone’s cloud, and has nothing whatsoever to do with MakeSpace or any other so-called cloud-storage company."

Manhattan Mini Storage has 17 self-storage locations throughout Manhattan. It is owned by Edison Properties, a family-owned business that also operates Edison ParkFast, a network of 40 garages and lots throughout Baltimore, New York City and Northeast New Jersey. Edison's properties include workspace offices, executive offices and pre-built suites, The Hippodrome office building, and The Ludlow, a luxury residential high-rise on the Lower East Side.

Investment firm Dunham & Associates Holdings Inc. has entered a settlement agreement to repurchase 14 properties from American Spectrum Realty Inc., a real estate investment-management company that operates self-storage facilities under the 1st American Storage brand. American Spectrum had filed suit against Dunham in district court in Harris County, Texas.

The properties were originally transferred to American Spectrum under a contribution agreement. The companies valued the properties at $55.5 million, and Dunham agreed to have its business entities assume debt of $8.1 million, according a press release issued by American Spectrum.

“In consideration for the transfer of the properties, the Dunham entities surrendered to American Spectrum shares of American Spectrum 8 Percent Cumulative Preferred Stock, Series B, with an aggregate liquidation preference of $47,411,201, which amount is equal to the net contribution value at which the properties were originally contributed to American Spectrum,” according to the release.

The companies also agreed to amend American Spectrum charter documents to modify the rights, preferences and privileges of the Series B preferred stock retained by Dunham. In addition, the firms modified a loan arrangement to eliminate Dunham’s obligation to make or arrange additional loans to American Spectrum.

Under the original loan agreement signed in January, Dunham advanced $3 million to American Spectrum Dunham Properties LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of American Spectrum, and was supposed to advance another $3 million within 90 days. As compensation for arranging the loan, American Spectrum issued Dunham five-year warrants exercisable for 600,000 shares of its common stock at a price per share of $2.

Headquartered in Houston, American Spectrum is a real estate investment, management and leasing company that owns self-storage, office, retail and multi-family interests across the United States through an operating partnership. The company has been publicly traded since 2001.

Employees of online self-storage marketplace SpareFoot recently donated $300 to a class of fourth graders at Reilly Elementary School in Austin, Texas, to help them self-publish a collection of their written stories. The 31 students wrote and illustrated pieces of fiction and nonfiction work for a hardbound book, published by Studentreasures, which partners with teachers and schools to support students’ reading and writing requirements.

The 13-page book addresses a variety of topics including “How to Become a Teacher” and “How to Survive Fourth Grade.” “Students were able to choose whatever they wanted to write about in any genre as a kind of celebration of the hard work they did all year preparing for the standardized writing test,” said Eliza Gordon, a fourth-grade teacher and sister of SpareFoot CEO Chuck Gordon.

The fourth graders recently took turns reading their book to a group of SpareFoot employees during an organized story time. Jeanette DeHay, a member of the SpareFoot marketing team who attended the event, said the children showed a lot of enthusiasm for the project. She was also impressed by their reading and writing skills. “What really surprised me was how ready and willing everyone was to have their own turn at reading aloud. I expected there to be some hesitation, especially from shy students; but I was pleasantly surprised at everyone’s eagerness,” DeHay said.

Based in Topeka, Kan., Studentreasures has published 10 million books for 15,000 schools in Canada, Guam, Puerto Rico and the United States.

Founded in 2008, SpareFoot helps consumers find and reserve self-storage units, with comparison shopping tools that show real-time availability and exclusive deals. With a network of more than 7,000 storage facilities ranging from mom-and-pop operations to real estate investment trusts, the company reaches prospective storage renters though partnerships with brands including SelfStorage.com, Apartments.com and Penske Truck Rental.