Double Diamond Storage Elwood LLC has purchased Elwood Self-Storage in Elwood, Kan. The property at 510 S. Eighth St. has been rebranded as Double Diamond Storage. It’ll serve customers in the Easton, St. Joseph, Troy and Wathena areas, the source reported. Missouri Western State University is also nearby.

Business partners Bob Bennett and David Krause, who own two other storage locations in Overland Park and Ottawa, Kan., have completed several property upgrades, according to the source. “We added a fence, an automated gate, top-quality cameras and lighting for security,” Krause said. “We provided a unique code to our customers to access the units. The doors were repaired, and the building painted.”

In addition, the facility offers online reservations and billpay. “We put our customers first at all times by offering amenities that make storing an easy process and experience,” Krause said. “We want customers to feel confident that their belongings are safe with us.”

Source:
Green Acres Sells, New Storage Company Comes to Elwood

 

For many self-storage operations, marketing campaigns are a chief way to communicate with potential customers, reinforce the brand and acquire new tenants. Unfortunately, today’s connected world makes for a very noisy marketplace! To be heard and gain a competitive advantage, you must get creative and differentiate your company from others. You want to grab attention and engage your prospects, or your messaging will be lost. The following six steps will help you create amazing campaigns.

1. Set Your Goals

What do you want your marketing campaign to achieve? Be as specific as possible. “Increase rentals” isn’t enough. Are you trying to improve your website’s page ranking? Do you have a specific unit size to fill? Are you attempting to increase awareness in a new market? Are you trying to promote a new amenity or add-on service?

Set parameters for your goals. Time is the most common, as marketing campaigns lose their effectiveness. Your campaign should have a set timeframe.

2. Set Your Budget

Keep in mind that campaigns delivered one time through a single medium rarely produce desired results. The best marketing follows an overarching theme that can be leveraged over time. It uses multiple variations or elements to tell a story.

While there’s no magic number for your message frequency, using multiple mediums will generate a higher return on investment. Your budget should be based on your goals and competitive position in the marketplace.

3. Identify Your Target Market

Not all your customers are the same or have the same needs. Self-storage may be a simple, straightforward business, but its users are diverse and complex. To be effective, your marketing campaigns need to speak to specific groups and their desires.

For example, if your facility is in a residential area, your messaging will be different than if you’re in a commercial area. Maybe your facility is near a popular lake, ski resort or university. Understanding your market demographics allows you to speak directly to specific customer types and raise your response rate. It also helps you identify where to place your marketing for the biggest impact.

4. Create Killer Content

Now that you’ve identified your target customers, walk in their shoes! What value can you deliver that helps them improve their business or solve their problem? Today’s consumers are more informed than ever. They’re not just seeking information about your service, they want to know you’re the expert in self-storage and be assured you’re delivering the best advice and service for their specific needs.

Customer-driven content informs and engages your audience while offering genuine solutions to their pain. It also builds brand awareness that associates your business with value. That turns customers into brand ambassadors, or advocates.

Ambassadors advertise your facility to their network of friends and associates because they like your brand and believe in what it provides. This word-of-mouth is an effective way to reach a much larger audience. Building advocates is important because they have the power to influence purchasing decisions of people with whom they’re directly and indirectly connected.

Great content builds relationships with your customer base. Your marketing campaign can include many types including blogs, newsletters, videos, lead-generating offers, traditional advertising, e-mails, pay-per-click ads and social media posts. Providing consistent, engaging content is one of the most effective ways to build confidence and trust with your audience.

5. Include a Call to Action

When creating your campaign materials, give people a reason to ask for more information or take action, such as clicking through to your website for a special offer or other content of value. For example, you could offer a guide on how to properly pack a storage unit or store a boat for winter. Remember, your customers are looking for content that solves their needs, so offer information that speaks to them.

6. Track and Test

For online campaigns, you can use Google Analytics to track your digital marketing effectiveness. This free Web tool will help you analyze your website traffic, including the source of online leads. For direct marketing campaigns, you can use call-tracking numbers and specific offers to track success. Tracking your key performance indicators will tell you which campaigns are working best and help you build better ones in the future.

Finally, don’t forget to test, test, test! Whether it’s a small or large campaign, evaluate your content and offer before you spend your budget. By testing your campaign and tracking results, you’ll improve your response rate and return on investment.

Shari Sutton is president of Sutton Watkins Advertising & Marketing Inc. and its MMS Division, which focuses on self-storage and multi-family housing. She’s been a respected agency principal since 1998, with expertise in digital advertising, marketing and senior management. Shari serves as marketing director for Nevada-based StorageOne, overseeing the direct and grassroots marketing efforts of 12-plus facilities, and has additional self-storage clients in California, Michigan and Ohio. To reach her, call 702.270.2147; e-mail [email protected]; visit www.suttonwatkins.com. 

Residents in Bonita, Calif., are rallying to block a self-storage facility from being approved by the San Diego County Planning Commission. The project would comprise more than 133,000 square feet in 900-plus units, but community members believe it’s an ill fit for the area, which they describe as being similar to the fictitious town of “Mayberry.” Some residents have placed “Stop Bonita Storage” signs in their front yards, according to the source.

“It would be devastating to the community,” said resident Sharmane Estolano. “We have a little Montessori school behind us. We have a fire department. But outside of that, it’s just residential, with everybody having a half-acre lot. It’s putting a project that normally is found in an industrial community right smack in the middle of a very quiet community.”

Another resident, Jim Groth, contends there is “no [self-storage] demand, so there is no supply. However, development consultant Chris Brown, who’s working with the landowner, told the source, “There is not only a demand for it, but the general area is underserved.”

Estolano has consulted with a lawyer to examine legal options to block the project. “Bonita is the last rural community in the south county [area],” she told the source. “We are striving to keep that together.”

The county first received the application for a major-use permit in August 2016. The Sweetwater Community Planning Group, a community advisory organization, voted to recommend denying the project earlier this month. The proposal is under public review on environmental documents until Oct. 8. The planning commission isn’t expected to review the project until the end of the year or possibly the beginning of 2019, according to a statement from the county.

Source:
KGTV, Controversy Over Proposed Self-Storage Facility in Bonita

Update 9/17/18 – Commercial is expanding its self-storage facility in Gahanna, Ohio, near Columbus. Since opening in June with a single building, the company has added four storage structures. It intends to invest another $4.4 million in expansion, which includes completion of two new buildings comprising 14,000 square feet and the acquisition of more land for which it has a purchase agreement, according to the source.

Additional expansion scheduled for the spring will add another 70,000 square feet to the property at 1509 Blatt Blvd. When fully built out, the facility will comprise 105,000 square feet in 14 buildings. The completed structures already in operation are at 90 percent occupancy, the source reported.

“We look at where we can go next with similar demographics, and we couldn’t find anyone in Columbus that had anyth8ing like [our business model], so we found Columbus attractive,” Sapp said.

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6/19/18 – Eight years after launching Commercial Self Storage in Indianapolis, which offers storage space designed for business-related customers, owners Jim and Theresa Sapp are expanding. The couple opened two new facilities in Columbus and Greenwood, Ohio, this year and plan to develop three more properties—in Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, and Noblesville, Ind.—within the next 12 months, according to the source.

The Sapps built their first facility in 2010 in the Castleton area of Indianapolis. In addition to storage, it provides showroom space, office rentals, forklift use, and access to other amenities including electricity, interior lighting and utilities as part of rent. That location, which started with two buildings on 6.5 acres, has grown to nine buildings, each at 100 percent occupancy, the source reported.

Success has come quickly to the Greenwood property, which opened with seven buildings comprising 70,000 square feet. With occupancy at 92 percent in less than a year, Commercial is planning to add another 90,000 square feet.

“Our niche is helping businesses with logistics and storage; and there’s a big demand because after the recession, people got smarter and [started] looking for smaller warehouses,” Jim Sapp told the source.

Commercial locations offer units from 300 to 3,000 square feet, with rates averaging around $14 per square foot, Sapp said. Approximately 40 percent of the company’s tenants are large businesses, with the remainder comprised of well-established small firms and startups. Mattress maker Crash Beds LLC pays about $2,500 per month for 1,800 square feet of space that includes a small showroom and enough room to manufacture, store and ship its products, the source reported.

In addition to its immediate projects, Commercial is also looking for expansion opportunities in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio.

Source:
Columbus Business First, Indianapolis Firm Adding to Unique Self-Storage Concept in Gahanna
Indianapolis Business Journal, Longtime Entrepreneur Sets Sights on Storage Industry

In honor of its 10th anniversary, online self-storage marketplace SpareFoot donated $20,000 to 10 nonprofits in the company’s home base of Austin, Texas. One local organization received $10,000, while the other nine received an equal portion of the remainder. The grand-prize winner was chosen via a six-round trivia competition with questions focused on the year 2008.

During the event, SpareFoot employees teamed up with members from each competing candidate. The participating charities were B.I.G. Love Cancer Care Services, CASA of Travis County, CISV ATXSA, Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, Minis & Friends, Open Door Preschool, Out Youth, Refugee Services of Texas, Travis Audubon Society and Wags Hope & Healing.

The first-place winner, Minis & Friends, uses miniature horses to help disabled children, at-risk youth, individuals in transition and senior citizens improve their motor skills, ability to connect, tactile response, use of senses and spirits. Before each interaction, staff wash and groom the animals, a process that takes two hours.

“We are honored to have been selected to participate with SpareFoot in such a big event. With our winnings, we plan to build two customized sheds so that we will no longer have to cancel weekend visits due to rainy weather. These winnings will solve our rain problem and we are still in awe,” said Deborah Davis, a board member and volunteer for Mini & Friends. “In 2017, we had to cancel 11 visits because of being rained out. The little-horse therapists think that if the ground gets wet and muddy, it is spa day! For us, it's sadness because we have to disappoint children and seniors with requesting a rain date.”

Minis & Friends will also use its funds to publish a second edition of its “Mighty Mini Reader,” which includes information about the organization as well as children’s activities and pictures of the group’s horses. It’s distributed at shelters, hospitals and assisted-living homes.

Last year, SpareFoot was named to the “Top Company Cultures” list by “Entrepreneur” magazine and has been named a “Top Employer” by the Austin American-Statesman since 2013. In July, it was named one of “Austin's Coolest Companies” by media company AustinInno.

“Community service has always been a priority at SpareFoot, and we are lucky to have the opportunity to give back to a city that has given us so much. We are grateful to be able to connect with local organizations and strengthen the Austin community,” said SpareFoot CEO Chuck Gordon.

SpareFoot helps consumers find and reserve self-storage units, with comparison shopping tools that show real-time availability and exclusive deals. It has a network of more than 12,000 storage facilities in the United States on SpareFoot.com and SelfStorage.com.

Source:
PR Newswire, SpareFoot Donates $20,000 to Austin-based Nonprofit Organizations

Phoenix-based U-Haul International Inc., which operates more than 1,500 self-storage facilities across North America, has acquired a newly built facility in Glendale, Ariz., for $10.05 million. The property at 4950 W. Northern Ave. opened in May and was offered for sale upon Certificate of Occupancy, according to a press release. The single-level facility comprises 80,000 square feet of space in 784 units.

The seller, VLC Enterprises LLC, was represented in the transaction by Norman Herd, principal of commercial real estate firm Quantum Property Advisors. He also represented VLC in the purchase of the land in April 2015. “It’s great to be part of a facility coming to life from its inception, purchasing the vacant parcel of land, obtaining entitlements to build and ultimately selling a great facility to a buyer like U-Haul,” Herd said.

VLC has recently completed several land acquisitions, and has properties under construction in Peoria and Phoenix, Ariz. Additional sites are in the planning stages, the release stated.

Established in 1945, U-Haul owns more than 32 million square feet of storage space. The company’s corporate sustainability initiatives, which support infill development to help local communities lower their carbon footprint, has led to dozens of conversion projects in recent years.

Based in Phoenix, Quantum offers brokerage, financial analysis and underwriting, and market-related consulting. Over the past three years, the company’s principals have completed more than $75 million in real estate transactions. It has a satellite office in Seattle.

Living in the Information Age means we have vast amounts of knowledge just a mouse-click away, but some data must still be acquired first-hand. This includes the level of service offered by your own self-storage employees as well as your competitors. The best method for gathering this intelligence is secret shopping. Let’s see how this technique can be applied in both scenarios.

Evaluating Your Own Business

The best way to learn how your managers handle your self-storage tenants and prospects is to conduct an in-house secret shop. This can be performed by an employee who’s unknown to the facility staff or a third-party company that specializes in this type of service.

Outsourcing can be valuable because the provider can usually shop in-person as well as on the phone, often creating audio recordings of each encounter. It should also be able to evaluate previously recorded calls, if your company regularly captures conversations. Some vendors will go so far as to rent a unit at the facility to measure each step of the process.

When reviewing the results of a secret shop with your managers, always use a non-threatening tone. Many managers are unaware of their customer-service skills could use a little improvement. Some may resent having been shopped. The key is to present the findings as a learning opportunity and use them to better the business.

Shopping the Competition

When I hire a manager, one of the first tasks I assign him is to secret shop the competition. To properly evaluate other storage facilities in the area, it’s best create a believable backstory. I usually suggest saying something simple like, “I’m moving to town next month and may need some extra space until I find a house,” or “I’ll be moving back home with the folks until I can save some money.” Both are common situations for our customers.

While shopping, never use common industry terms like “occupancy percentage,” “unit mix,” etc., or you’ll risk blowing your cover. An experienced manager will easily pick up on the language and realize he is being shopped rather than dealing with a legitimate customer.

It’s smart to shop with several unit sizes in mind, but I suggest starting with the spaces that have the lowest occupancy at your own facility. You may discover price differences or other factors that could help explain your levels.

While visiting a competitor’s property, make sure you get a tour. This is an easy, effective way to evaluate the facility’s condition, note amenities offered, and get a sense of how many units are vacant to help estimate occupancy.

Also, don’t be afraid to give out your real name and mobile number. This will help you determine whether the competition follows up leads and the techniques it uses when contacting prospects. Good managers may even pick up some new sales skills from the managers they’re shopping.

It’s not unusual to walk out of a competitor’s office with information that bears no resemblance to what the company presents over the phone or on its website. This data can be good to have when negotiating a lease with a potential new tenant at your own property.

If your manager is unable to visit a competitor’s site, secret shopping by phone can also be effective. Again, plot a storyline in advance, one designed to mine specific information; and use a mobile phone, not your own facility phone, to maintain anonymity.

Other Uses

Secret shopping can also be an effective tool when conducting research for a potential property acquisition. It can be a terrific way to gather intelligence on the facility and its current management.

Employment head hunters might also use secret shopping to identify job candidates. After all, truly skilled managers are the strongest asset a self-storage facility has.

No matter what form your secret shopping takes, use the results to improve your business. The goal is to be the location your competitors observe as a model of success.

Sean Landry is owner and president of Expert Storage Management LLC, which offers third-party management services for self-storage, including staff hiring and training, revenue management, pricing, unit-mix optimization, marketing strategies, and more. He founded the company in 2016 after a successful career as a facility manager and consultant. For more information, call 504.251.1260; e-mail [email protected]; visit www.expertstoragemanagement.com. 

Date: Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Duration: One hour (live event includes time for audience Q&A)
Presenter: Terry Bagley, President of Smart Entry and Facility Automation, Janus International Group
Registration: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5608698267144316161 

It can be stated without hyperbole that we’re living in a “smart” era—a world increasingly interconnected via technology! Each day, we interact with more and more smart devices, from buildings to cars to homes. This webinar addresses the concept of smart self-storage, including design and implementation. We’ll explore what “smart” means in the context of our industry, how to leverage technology to create smart facilities and units, and how this transition can positively impact your bottom line.

You’ll learn:

• What a smart self-storage facility is and what it can do
• The technology available to create smart storage
• What it costs to implement smart technology
• How smart technology enhances site security and improves the customer experience
• Lessons learned by early adopters in our industry

About the presenter:

Terry Bagley is president of smart entry and facility automation at Janus International Group. Terry oversees the development and implementation of smart entry and security technology designed to help self-storage operators increase the value of their facilities and improve operation. He’s spent more than 16 years providing leading-edge tools to the industry.

Sponsored by:

Janus International Group LLC is a global manufacturer and supplier of turnkey self-storage building solutions and technology for the self-storage industry, including the SecurGuard smart-lock system. Headquartered in Temple, Ga., Janus has been named to the Inc. Top 5,000 list of fastest-growing companies every year since 2008. The company team operates out of several U.S. cities, three European locations and a joint venture in Mexico. It's owned by Clearlake Capital, a California-based private-equity firm. To learn more, visit www.janusintl.com/securguardapp. 

David Rogers, the co-founder and longtime CEO of self-storage real estate investment trust (REIT) and property-management firm Life Storage Inc., will step down on March 1, though he’ll remain on the board of directors. Rogers will be replaced by Joseph Saffire, who joined the REIT in November as chief investment officer, according to a press release.

Under Rogers, Life Storage nearly doubled its revenue and funds from operations from 2013 to 2017, a source reported.

"The board of directors would like to thank Dave for his significant contributions to the company over the past 35 years as a co-founder, 17 as [chief financial officer] and, for the past seven years, as CEO,” said Mark Barberio, company chair. “We are pleased that he will continue to provide his knowledge, perspective, and passion as a member of our board.”

Saffire came to Life Storage after 25 years in commercial banking, including leadership roles at First Niagara Financial Group Inc., HSBC Holdings PLC and Wells Fargo & Co. As a member of the REIT’s senior management team, he has been integral in executing the company’s operational, investment, acquisition and capital-markets strategy, officials said.

"We are excited for Joe to transition to the role of CEO. He brings a wealth of leadership, relationship, real estate, and capital-markets skills to this position, and he has been a great fit since joining us last year,” Barberio said. “We believe Joe, along with the rest of our talented and experienced team, will continue to successfully serve our customers, grow our portfolio, and build our company’s shareholder value.”

"Joe has proven to be an incredible asset to our company, working extremely well with the entire management team and all of our stakeholders,” added Rogers. “His efforts to advance our real estate investment and third-party management strategies and operations have better positioned Life Storage for further growth. I look forward to collaborating with him over the next six months to ensure a smooth transition, and with my fellow board members to position Life Storage for continued success.”

"It is an absolute honor to lead Life Storage through our next phase of growth. I look forward to continuing to work side by side with this incredible customer-focused, hard-working, collaborative and innovative team,” Saffire said.

Based in Buffalo, Life Storage operates more than 700 self-storage facilities in 28 states under the Life Storage and Uncle Bob’s brands. Its portfolio of owned and managed facilities comprises more than 50 million square feet.

Sources:
Markets Insider, Life Storage Inc. Announces Leadership Succession
The Buffalo News, Saffire to succeed Rogers as CEO at Life Storage