In early 2011, the Tennessee Self Storage Association (TNSSA) will present to the state legislature a proposal to update the states lien laws. The associations legislative committee drafted the proposal to create benefits for self-storage owners statewide, and the board of directors approved it on Aug. 17.

Proposed changes to the lien law include:

• The use of e-mail as a valid lien-notification method, and the use of verified mail instead of Certified Mail, which is more expensive
• Provisions allowing operators to lockout past-due tenants at five days and enforce a lien at 15 rather than 30 days
• The addition of language concerning motor vehicles, including the right to tow vehicles in delinquent spaces after 60 days
• The addition of a limit on owners liability
• Specifications concerning late fees

To fund the legal process of submitting the proposal to legislature, the TNSSA has launched a fundraising drive, with a goal of raising $15,000 by Dec. 31. Donations can be made online at www.tnssa.net or by contacting Sherry Cole at 805.444.4267 or [email protected].

The TNSSA, formed in 2007, is a nonprofit organization that assists members through accurate information on self-storage issues including lien laws, property taxes, educational opportunities, and others.

By CJ Moore

Yvonne Cerrano, manager of a National Self Storage facility in El Paso, Texas, greets every customer who walks through her door in English. But in El Paso, where approximately 80 percent of the population is Hispanic, many of her customers respond in Spanish and often ask if she speaks the language. As soon as I say yes, they feel comfortable and know I can help them, Cerrano says.

Census data shows Hispanics make up the fastest-growing population in the United States, particularly in states bordering Mexico. The 2008 census reports 36.5 percent of the Texas population is Hispanic, 36.6 percent in California, 30.1 percent in Arizona and 44.9 percent in New Mexico.

The challenge for many self-storage operators in the southern states is how to appeal to this ever-increasing population. Many have turned to bilingual managers like Cerrano, who help maintain their customer base by developing trust. But retaining customers is usually not the biggest challengeits bringing in new customers. One way to do this is through targeted online marketing.

The Online Language Barrier

The medium most people use these days to find out about goods and services is the Internet, and statistics show that Hispanics turn to the Internet even more so than the general public. According to a study by AOL Advertising and Cheskin in 2009, Hispanics are more enthusiastic about the benefits of the Internet than the general public, so much so that they have more confidence in online product ratings (72 percent) than the opinions of their friends (28 percent). The study also found that 57 percent of Hispanics always go to the Internet to find deals, compared to 41 percent of the general public.

Tracy Taylor, president of Watson & Taylor Self Storage, says many Hispanic customers are finding out about his self-storage facilities online, but are not always comfortable about completing the transaction on the Web. Taylor has facilities in Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. He has at least a 5 percent Hispanic customer base in every city, but he pays more attention to his Hispanic customers in Texas, where the numbers are much greater.

Hispanic Self-Storage Customers in Texas
Dallas	30%
Houston	45%
Austin	55%
San Antonio	55%
El Paso	80%
Watson & Taylor Self Storage determined the ethnicities of its customers in each city where it own facilities. The chart shows the percentage of Hispanic customers in Texas.

Taylor is able to track his leads, and sells through a third-party search engine where he advertises his facilities. Hes found that although the online traffic is similar in most cities, Watson & Taylor completes far fewer online deals in cities with a high Hispanic population.

In Austin, for example, Taylor says he gets a high number of online commitments; El Paso sees similar online traffic, but the online commitments are much lower. Very commonly, on more than two-thirds of the search-engines actions, the Hispanic customer will come to the facility and view the unit, talk to the manager, then decide if he trusts him. The communication factor helps tremendously, says Taylor, who makes it a priority to hire bilingual managers in his southern stores. Thats a very significant change from the way we do business in other areas.

Herman Lopez, a manager at Rhino Self Storage in El Paso, says many Hispanics in his area dont have the ability to complete a transaction online. There have been many times where Ive been on the phone talking to a Spanish-speaking person, and we get all the way to the reservation, and when you ask for the deposit, he says, Oh, well, I dont have a credit card, Lopez says. If they dont reserve online, its because theyre cash-paying customers.

Building Trust Online

Another big reason Hispanic customers might not be making deals online comes back to the trust factor. Many Hispanics hesitate to finalize their business online because of communication hurdles, says Carla Briceno, cofounder of Bixal, a company that provides strategic communications and marketing for organizations targeting the online Hispanic market. Most websites are not bilingual, and those that are typically use machine-generated translations.

Machine translation is not good enough yet, Briceno says. Even a professional literal translation of your original general market materials is usually not effective. A better approach, she says, is to identify your audience, take steps to understand their unique needs, interests and demographics, and develop original content. At the very minimum you should create Web pages that speak to your audience in a cultural and linguistically appropriate way.

The AOL study found many Hispanics even prefer English content because they mistrust sites in Spanish. The study also found Hispanics prefer Spanish marketing tailored to them and written for themnot just a literal translationbecause it makes them feel closer to home.

By doing your research upfront to understand the perceptions of the members of the specific segment youre trying to reach, you can develop an online presence, Briceno says. Whether it be on your website or on some of the key social-media platforms, the message should be culturally relevant and focused on providing the information the growing online Hispanic audience is looking for. 

Target Marketing

There are several ways self-storage operators can improve their websites and online marketing campaigns to entice more Hispanic tenants.          

Write clearly. Rather than translating your English marketing material and ads, find someone whos fluent in Spanish to compose materials intentionally for the Hispanic market. Some phrases and words simply do not translate well from one language to another.

Create trust. Getting the attention of Hispanic customers online is the first step. Once they visit your store, its important they feel comfortable. Have someone available who can speak to them in their language and make them at ease.

Be phone-friendly. Build Internet pages that are mobile-device friendly. Many Hispanics connect online from their mobile phones.

Embrace social media. More Hispanics are using social media, Briceno says. This offers brands the opportunity to listen to whats being said about their products or their competitors and engage in two-way conversations that can help them shine a light on their brands. 

Talk about facility features. List security benefits on your website. Many Hispanics are uneasy about security. They also want to know about other facility features such as tenant insurance.

To gauge your facilitys effectiveness in reaching and serving the Hispanic community, Briceno also suggests you ask current Hispanic tenants:

• How do they perceive your products and services? 
• How are they using them? 
• What are their typical needs in this area? 
• What are their language preferences?
• How are they using the Internet and social media?  
• What factors play a role in how they might use your products and services? 

The important thing to remember is trust is the most essential aspect of working with Hispanic customers. Before starting Bixar, Briceno worked for Sprint Nextel, managing projects for the Hispanic e-commerce site. She found that there were so many poorly translated websites that many Hispanics had lost trust in all sites.

If that trust is lost, its tough to regain. But if the trust is strong from the beginningwith your first impression happening onlinethen you could have a customer for life.

C.J. Moore is the editor of StorageFront.com, an independent self-storage search engine and marketing company based in Kansas City. StorageFront works with more than 40,000 self-storage facilities nationwide. The website also caters to the Hispanic market with manually translated Spanish pages. For more information, call 913.469.5700; visit www.storagefront.com .

An employee at Tiberti  Mini Warehouses in Las Vegas, shot a woman then himself Aug. 20, according to police.

Police identified the employee as Steven Becker, 56. Becker died from a shotgun wound to the chest. Shannon Larkin, 48, died from a gunshot wound to the head. Her death was ruled as a homicide. A second victim, a 49-year-old woman, also suffered from a gunshot wound to the head. She was taken to University Medical Center, authorities said. Her condition wasnt released. It was unclear how she was involved.

Police received a 911 call just after 8 p.m. Friday from a man who said he had shot a woman. When officers arrived at the facility, they made contact with the man, who was brandishing a handgun. When police asked him to put down the weapon, he placed the gun on a countertop, then ran to the back bedroom of the facilitys live-in apartment. Officers then heard a shot. When they entered he room, they found the man dead.

According to police, Becker lived at the facility, but they were unclear about the relationship between the man and the two women or why the women were at the self-storage facility.

A Pompano Beach, Fla., man was arrested Friday after he attempted to sell counterfeit Picasso, Matisse and John Singer Sargent paintings he stored in his home and a Massachusetts self-storage unit.

Luigi Cugini, 58, claimed to be the grandson of the late Joseph Coletti, a Boston-area sculptor. Court records show that during the six-month FBI investigation, Cugini showed his fake paintings to potential buyers. He claimed the paintings were worth millions.

An undercover FBI agent met with Cugini in May to negotiate the purchase of three of the paintings for $565,000, court documents show. All three were  determined to be fakes. Police say Cugini even attempted to authenticate them with forged paperwork., which he mailed to the undercover officer. Hes been charged with one count of mail fraud.

Mako Steel Inc., which designs, supplies and installs steel buildings for the self-storage industry, will present educational seminars and exhibit its products and services at the Inside Self-Storage World Expo in New Orleans, Sept. 29-Oct. 1. The company has also created two special offers for self-storage owners and developers, available only at the expo.

On Sept. 30, 10 a.m. PT, Mako President Caesar Wright and Vice President of Eastern-Division Operations Bruce McCardle will present a seminar titled, Assembling a Design and Construction Team: Ensuring the Best Self-Storage Project You Can Build. Theyll teach attendees how to take charge of the construction process including how to negotiate the contract and control costs. Theyll also provide guidelines for choosing the best professionals, and suggest tools to help maximize the time and effort invested in a new project.

On Oct. 1, Wright will present a roundtable discussion addressing the construction and development of boat/RV-storage facilities.

ISS Expo attendees can take advantage of two special offers by visiting the Mako Steel booth, No. 526. Any attendee who drops off a business card at the booth will be entered into a drawing to win one of two $100 Visa gift cards. The drawings will be held at the end of exhibit hours on Sept. 29 and 30. Self-storage developers who visit the booth can receive a free site layout or no-cost engineering.

The ISS Expo will take place at the New Orleans Marriott at 555 Canal St. It will comprise three comprehensive tracks of educational seminars, several networking opportunities, product and service exhibits, and add-on intensive workshops. Show information can be found at www.insideselfstorageworldexpo.com. 

Police in Lubbock, Texas, are looking for a minivan that could be involved in several break-ins at AARK Self Storage in August.

Surveillance photos of an early- to mid-2000 minivan were released Thursday. The photos were captured by the facilitys video surveillance system.  The burglaries occurred Aug. 20 just before 5 a.m. Anyone with information can call the Crime Line at 806.741.1000. Callers can remain anonymous.

By Jeffrey B. Turnbull

We all know the economy has made things very difficult for most of us in the self-storage industry. The problem, simply put, is supply exceeds demand. The solution, however, is more complex. While you likely cant do anything about the supply of self-storage in your market, you can focus on the latter. A few simple marketing techniques can put your self-storage business ahead of the rest, and perhaps give you new opportunities when overall demand levels return.

Increase Referrals

Asking current or past tenants for referrals is probably the best way to increase occupancy and cash flow. It may generate as much as a 5 percent bump over the course of a year, even in these difficult times. What tenant wouldnt want a few extra bucks for referring a friend, one who needs your service anyway?

If you dont have a referral program in place, make one! Create a coupon that gives a referring person $25 for each new tenant who rents a unit from you. Give these coupons to existing and former tenants. Also, distribute them to your top business drivers including apartment managers and real estate agents. These referral programs should be consistently marketed on a monthly basis.  They work and will help drive business to your facility and boost your occupancy. Best of all, a referral program is easy to implement, and the cost is tied solely to newly rented self-storage units.

Boost Retention

The work doesnt end once the tenant signs the contract. You must consistently be at the top of your game to retain that customer. In addition, your tenants needs will often change as the months fly by. They may no longer feel they need self-storage, or could be facing a financial issue that makes affording their unit difficult. Rather than lose paying tenants, try to find a solution so theyll stay.

Instead of seeing a move-out as lost occupancy and revenue, look at it as an opportunity to better meet your tenants needs. When a tenant tells you hes vacating, find out why. Perhaps the unit is too large. If so, suggest he move into a smaller one. Some renters may suddenly find they need a climate-controlled unit. Maybe a customer wants a unit closer to the gate or directly under a light. Is a competitor offering a significantly better deal you can match?

More often than not, you have a good shot at retaining some of these potential move-outs if you understand their motives for vacating. You might need to renegotiate the rental rate for a short time to keep that tenant, but it can be well worth it on the long run. You cant stop every customer from leaving, of course, but you can retain a small portion of your move-outs by simply finding out how you can meet customers changing needs. This can help you retain at least 7 percent of potential move-outs.

If you can gain 5 percent in referral occupancy and keep another 7 percent in retained occupancy, youre occupancy will be 12 percent higher. This additional occupancy and income stream can put your facility ahead of your competition and position your business to take advantage of new opportunities as the broader overall economy improves.

Jeffrey B. Turnbull is president of Kodiak Mini Storage in Charlotte, N.C. Hes a licensed attorney and real estate broker in North and South Carolina. Hes also a founding board member and past president of the North Carolina Self Storage Association. To contact him, e-mail [email protected].

George McCord, the principal owner and operator of Southeast Storage & Development Co. and the developer of Plantation Self Storage, passed away last week after a long illness.

George had more than 30 years of project-intensive self-storage experience including the development of facilities totaling nearly 1 million square feet of space. George served on the national Self-Storage Association Board of Directors from 2004 to 2006, and was president of the SSA Southeast Region in 2003. He was a long-standing member of the Georgia Self Storage Association and a founding member of the South Carolina Self Storage Association.

George presented at several Inside Self-Storage World Expos and submitted articles to Inside Self-Storage magazine on the topic of wine storage. His Plantation Self Storage chain, with four locations in Columbia, Bluffton, and Myrtle Beach, S.C., are renowned for their wine-storage services and amenities.

From 1991 to 1994, George served as chief development officer for American Monroe Ltd., a subsidiary of Chicago-based American Invsco Corp., where he was responsible for the acquisition and development of multi-family housing properties.  Prior to 1991, he supervised the construction and installation of a premier yacht harbor and marina for a private resort development in the Bahamas, and managed development and operations for a marina near Door County, Wis. He was also a former owner of the Palmetto Bay Marina on Hilton Head Island, S.C.  Following his graduation from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., George received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School.

George lived on Hilton Head Island, S.C., with his wife, Joanne, and their three children.

Employees of Champion Self Storage have successfully completed the training program and received a seal of approval through WomenCertified, an organization that teaches professionals how to deliver better customer service with the goal of creating women-friendly companies and experiences.

To become WomenCertified, a person or business must complete a series of intensive training modules to learn the communication and customer-service skills proven to be the most effective and desired among female customers. Once they complete the program, they are listed on the locator at WomenCertified.com, where consumers can search for women-friendly companies.

To celebrate earning the WomenCertified Seal and support its commitment to women, Champion Self Storage is observing Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October) at each of its 15 locations, holding and participating in various activities throughout Florida, Georgia and Indiana.

Champion Self Storage is managed by Coral Springs, Fla.-based Sentry Self Storage Management.

WomenCertified offers resources to help businesses increase customer loyalty among both men and women through more effective communication, appreciation and an enriched customer experience.

Access Self Storage and its tenants have reached out to a local family of a Lancaster, Texas, police officer shot and killed in the line of duty last June. Tenants at the facilitys Lancaster and Red Oaks locations have raised $250 for the Shaw family fund. Access Self-Storage matched the donation, bringing the total to $500, with the fund continuing to grow.

Shaw, 37, and Jeremy McMillian, 23, were killed June 20 during a shootout at an apartment complex. The shooter, 27-year-old David ONeal Brown Jr., the son of Dallas Chief of Police David Brown, was also killed in the fray.

Shaw was the father of two children, 13-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy. He served in the Lancaster Police Department for five years.

Donations are still being accepted at any of the six Access Self Storage locations in Texas.