When it comes to their work, most people want to do a good job, be recognized for it and, hopefully, rewarded. Most of us have, at one point, experienced the great feeling of being complimented by the boss on a job well done, the inner glow of pride, the satisfaction of knowing someone has recognized the hard work and extra effort weve put forth.

Maybe youve been lucky enough to get that bonus you werent expecting, whether something personal like tickets to a game, a gift certificate to a local restaurant or a little extra money (my favorite). A few of you may have even experienced the Holy Grail of recognition, the one that not only acknowledges the exceptional work youve done and rewards you financially, but also makes you realize your boss sees you as an asset and a key player in the companys futurethats right, ladies and gentleman, nothing puts a little zip in your doo-dah like a promotion!

What better way for a supervisor to say youve mastered your position than to appoint you the one to train incoming personnel, act as their immediate supervisor, and be rewarded when they do a good job. Nothing says Youre our man (or woman) like someone trusting you to handle things that, until now, were left to someone with a higher rank and pay scale.

Storage-facility managers arent unlike the rest of the working class in this respect. Unfortunately, we are solitary creatures. We work mostly unsupervised, and often have little or no contact with the corporate office or even other facilities in our organization. Although we are entrusted with incredible duties and tasks, such as caring for and maintaining million-dollar properties and customer bases comprised of hundreds and even thousands of residential and commercial, short- and long term customers, it seems anti-climactic when we receive a paycheck more befitting an employee than a manager.

Most of us are so good at what we do, our positions seem mundane; and we always want to make more money. The only thing that cures both these ailments is the aforementioned promotion to area manager or other similar position.

Watch What You Wish For

What better to cure what ails you than to do something different for a change? A promotion will often allow you to test your limitations and enjoy what youve been secretly longing for: extra money, perks, a change in scenery, the power and ability to actually make a difference. The best part is the feeling someone else has validated you.

The only problem is, now that youve made it, it may not be quite what you thought. You might not make as much extra money as you were expecting (its funny how the numbers always look better on paper). If there is travel involved, perhaps its not as much fun as it looks. And while that goldcard expense account may say power and give you a sense of confidence, it also gives you a false sense of security. As for a change in scenery, Dorothy learned the hard way, Theres no place like home.

The Grass Is Always Greener

A promotion will give you plenty of responsibilities to test your skills. You now have the task of answering your managers biggest questions, calming their deepest fears, and helping them solve their biggest problems. All that takes place on your regular monthly visit, during which you have 8 to10 hours to address all company and facility concerns, bring the manager up to speed on the newest operational initiative, try to measure how well the last initiative is going, and hold the monthly auctionbefore, during or after the site inspection/audit.

And by the way, the boss is on the phone. He needs you to go over last months profit and- loss statement on property x (which hell fax to you). Did you notice the spike in discounts? You need to isolate those figures and identify how many are for the current month and how many for future months, because that number is messing up the refinancing process. And theres no rushas long as he has the information by tomorrow, that will be fine.

Oh, by the way, you and/or your position is being reassigned, redistricted, restructured or re-evaluated. And thats if, in your new position, in a new place, interacting with new people, under new circumstances, you dont (gasp) actually make a mistake! Maybe then youll be just plain old eliminated.

As a self-storage manager, I often heard from competing facilities about their new district managers. It seemed they turned over pretty quickat least the ones who were trying to make a difference. It seems the ones who last the longest are the ones who try the least.

Making the Leap

People dont often change until the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of transforming. Even fewer change without it being hoisted upon them or there being a life altering circumstance that precipitates it. When it comes time to make the leap, it is usually because we were forced to do so, or because we just couldnt stand to see things stay the same. Either way, it is not often we make the leap under the best of conditions or on our own terms.

This is especially true when it comes to starting your own company. In my opinion, the only thing people want more than to be promoted is the opportunity to start their own business. Many managers tell me if they had the means to do so, they would buy their own facility and work for themselves.

I agree. I love what I do and, given the choice, I would continue doing it. Although I cannot yet afford my own facility, Ive decided to take the lessons Ive learned as a facility manager and pull together the necessary tools, skills and knowledge to begin my own consulting and management-services business. Sometimes you have to take control of your own destiny. This is true in self-storage and any other facet of life. I wish you all the best in your own fortunes.

David Fleming is the founder of Fleming Management Services, which specializes in facility operations, profit maximization and liability management. Specialty services include operational consulting, systems analysis, manager training, auditing and site inspections, as well as policies and procedures review, creation and implementation. Mr. Fleming has more than 10 years of practical experience in managing self-storage properties. He is a columnist for Inside Self-Storage, a contributing author to the Self-Storage Telegram and a regular speaker at industry tradeshows. For more information, call 610.724.1002; e-mail flemingmgt@aol.com.

It's the beginning of a new year and the time when storage owners start refreshing their advertising campaigns. Most use some form of advertising to attract new customers and create recognition for their facilities. Whether your advertising is elaborate or subtle, you want to make your dollars stretch by advertising right and avoiding the pitfalls and risks.

Some owners and managers are not aware of laws and regulations that govern advertising. Violations can create severe penalties and litigation. Most likely, your self-storage insurance policy provides some protection, but it doesnt hurt to take precautions before planning your campaign.

The risk of advertising is heightened if an ad is false or misleading. It is illegal for an advertisement to make unsubstantiated claims or fail to include details of an offer. An advertisement is considered false or misleading if the public is likely to be deceived. Even if the ad is true in a literal sense, it does not prevent it from being deceptive. Keep in mind the overall image and placement of words and text can make an otherwise innocent advertisement ambiguous. Although it seems simple, advertising requirements are often subtle and contain downfalls for the unwary. So the next time you develop a catchy new ad, consider the way the message will be perceived.

One way to avoid potentially deceptive statements is to use disclaimers, which can clarify statements or claims made in an advertisement. A disclaimer should list the requirements to qualify for an offer or the restrictions on its availability. For example, to catch potential customers attention, you advertise one month of free rent to all first time tenants. The free month would be the second month to discourage people from storage hopping; but because a lot of readers may assume the first month is free, you should put an asterisk by the claim and place the appropriate disclaimer somewhere in the advertisement so customers understand how the offer works.

Keep in mind that disclaimers cannot correct inaccurate or false information in an advertisement. Care must also be taken so if a customer is supposed to receive a product for free, he actually does. For example, if you offer one month of free rent, that unit must be rented for the regular price at all times and cannot be increased to recover the cost of the free month.

Be careful with testimonials, claims and the use of the words such as promise or guarantee. Testimonials or other claims must be true and capable of being authenticated. For example, if you decide to advertise the safety and security of your facility, make sure you can back up that claim.

To ensure further protection from claims of false advertising, you may want to consider taking out higher limits of business-liability insurance. This coverage, included in your insurance policy, can provide important protection against lawsuits involving libel, slander, physical eviction or the false arrest of a third party; and advertising-injury lawsuits involving plagiarism, copyright infringement and false advertising. (Note that while libel, plagiarism, etc., may not seem like bodily or property damages, that is how the courts have interpreted them.)

If you are found liable in a lawsuit, business-liability insurance might cover those sums you become legally obligated to pay up to the limits of your policy. In short, it protects your business, your assets and your peace of mind.

Universal Insurance Facilities Ltd. offers a comprehensive package of coverages specifically designed to meet the needs of the self-storage industry. For more information, or to get a quick, no-obligation quote, write P.O. Box 40079, Phoenix, AZ 85067-0079; call 800.844.2101; fax 480.970.6240; e-mail uif@vpico.com; visit www.vpico.com/universal.

Randy Vander Hill began his career 32 years ago in the industrial-equipment industry when he was just a teen, working weekends and summers for the company that employed his father. In 1983, he launched his own business, Placentia, Calif.-based AJAY Equipment Corp., which sells and installs vertical reciprocating conveyors designed for the self-storage industry.

Vertical reciprocating conveyors, or VRCs as they are called by many people, were slowly coming into the storage industry, recalls Vander Hill. We had done some of the first installations at the prior company I worked with, and I really felt there would be a market for this product in the storage industry, if it was promoted properly.

Vander Hill was right. Twenty-one years later, AJAY continues to thrive with more than 600 installations in 41 states. The company has 16 employees, most of whom have been with the company for many years. We feel the most important part of any business is the employees, and we are certainly very dedicated to ours, he says.

The VRC Advantage

AJAYs custom-made lifts are an economical alternative to passenger elevators, especially for existing self-storage facilities. There are a lot of facilities that were built in the 70s and 80s, and even some being built today, with two or sometimes three stories that do not have any kind of freight lift or elevator. This is a viable alternative and at a great savings to the customer, Vander Hill says.

Purchasing a VRC rather than a passenger elevator could save a self-storage operator as much as $75,000 just in the initial purchase, installation and first few years of maintenance. Its an economical alternative. I wouldnt build a two- or three-story facility without having a lift of some kind. You will not lease the upper floors without this kind of product, Vander Hill says.

The easy-to-use VRCs transport a storage customers goods from floor to floor. The customer loads his goods onto the lift, then takes the stairs or a passenger elevator. The VRC takes only seconds to reach the next level.

VRCs are also bigger than the standard passenger elevator, which translates to fewer trips for the self-storage customer and eliminates carrying heavy boxes up and down stairs. Typically, with passenger elevators, the carrier car is predicated by capacity. Many passenger elevators have a much smaller interior space than our vertical reciprocating conveyors, Vander Hill says. For example, a 2,500-pound-capacity passenger elevator may have an interior car size of only 4 by 6 feet. VRC platforms are 6 by 9 feet. Theres a lot more space to put your goods on.

There are other advantages as well. The VRC uses a free-standing truss mast-tower design. Its a key component, because this design is extremely rigid and doesnt rely on any building structure for support. Thats what makes it unique, Vander Hill says. With a lot of elevators, you have to put in concrete load-bearing walls, a deep walled concrete pit and major electrical services. Our product doesnt require any of this.

The VRC comes with numerous safety and proprietary design features developed by AJAY, including a four-way safety slide-bolt interlock, and other electrical and hydraulic safety features. AJAY also offers a maintenance plan. You would not want to make this kind of investment without getting after-sales service. This is a considerable expense and should not be neglected, Vander Hill says. In todays world, we are all concerned about safety and liability, so we want to make sure the product is properly maintained. Thats one of the things our company is known for providing quality after-sales service and multi year warranty customer support.

AJAYs customer base has grown over the years to include small and large companies. Most of our customers are still the mom-and-pop companies who will buy one or two lifts, Vander Hill says. However, we do multiple installations for many of the larger firms, including Storage USA, 5A Rent-A-Space, Caster Properties and Public Storage. We take great pride in the longterm business relationships we have developed through the years with all of our customers and the many building contractors who have worked with us.

It is the companys reputation for quality work, superior equipment and excellent customer service that has driven AJAYs continuing success. There have been other companies that have come and gone through the years, and like I tell everyone, were here to stay, Vander Hill says. When you look at the whole picture of who we are, what weve done and what we do, it why we feel there is no equal.

For more information, call 800.521.AJAY; visit www.ajaystoragelifts.com.  

In todays high-tech world, we get bombarded by slick advertising. Thousands of dollars are spent on TV, radio, billboards, newspapers and magazines to win our business. Companies spend billions to get the word out about their products or services, and the self-storage industry is no different. We, too, spend money on advertising to get people to store with us, to show prospects we are different from the facility down the street.

Self-storage is one of the biggest spenders on Yellow Pages to address local communities. Having an ad in the Yellow Pages is a givenwho in self-storage could survive without one? The largest portion of your advertising dollars will be spent on the ad; after all, most of your calls are going to be generated from that book! The question is, do we need to spend thousands more on other advertising? Yes and no.

If you are opening a brand new facility, a top priority should be setting aside enough advertising dollars to hit the ground running when you open your doors. Ideas in this article will work well for established facilities as well as new sitesproviding, of course, your facility is well staffed and you are willing to set aside money for those one-time costs.

Community Support

One of the best low-cost advertising tactics is to get involved in your local community. Here are some possibilities:

You can support a local soccer or softball team, offering a free unit to store equipment in exchange for its endorsement. You can even make a sign to hang on the fence around the field or place a free ad in the teams roster.

When the Girl Scouts host their annual cookie drive, consider donating a vacant unit for a week or so to serve as a drop-off/ pick-up point for the merchandise. The parents and girls will come to the facility almost daily, bringing in new people who dont currently store with you. They will remember you when they eventually need storage.

Contact your local newspaper anytime you engage in a community event or charity. Ask for an article to be placed in the local community- service or business section of the paper. They will usually send out a photographer and write a nice little piece about your facility and the service you are offering.

Contact your local police department and offer your facility as a training center for its K- 9 dogs. Training could be held after gate hours or during slower times of the month. If someone wants to rent a unit at your facility for illegal activities, they will think twice when they see you provide a venue for K-9 training. Again, call the newspaper and get a photo and article published. Then you can have a copy matted and framed to hang on your office wall. This not only makes great artwork, it shows tenants the valuable services you provide the public.

Check with your local school district, department of social services, or police or fire departments and offer your facility as an official finger-printing site for a day. They will make up fliers and post them in their lobbies. Some will even run TV or printmedia adsand you can always get a TV ad on your local cable station under community service events.

Donate your facility for a fundraiser such as bake sale or car wash for the local high school cheerleading squad or band. The educational community is always looking for places to hold this type of event. You can help the school and get people into your facility who wouldnt normally visit you.

Holiday Spirit

During the winter holiday season, you can offer your facility as a drop-off center for a canned-food or Toys for Tots drive. Work with a local church, synagogue or community center to gather and store the goods. If they have a newsletter, ask them to print an ad for your facility in exchange for your service. Again, you can contact your local cable TV or radio station, which will be happy to mention your facility on its community-service calendar.

Holidays provide an excellent opportunity for specialty marketing to your community. On Easter, you can close the facility and offer it to the community for an Easter-egg hunt. On the Fourth of July, offer a side of your parking lot for a fireworks stand (only if this is legally allowed in your area, of course).

Some marketing will involve an initial investment. For example, a marquee sign will probably cost you more than other signs, but will allow you to convey different messages on a rotating basis. You can use it to announce a sentiment during the holidays, a managers special on overstocked units or various community events. If you already have a sign, build or purchase a portable sandwich-board sign that can be changed regularly and placed at the entrance of the facility.

Small holiday items can be used as giveaways to new tenants. For example, there are at least five times during the year when a small American flag can be given to new tenants: Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Veterans Day and Presidents Day. You can offer new tenants free pumpkins at Halloween and Thanksgiving or, at Christmas time, a box of colorful lights or an ornament. What you dont give away can be donated to a local charity.

Remember, your managers have to be given the tools and allowed the time to do any outside marketing. They need to be trained in marketing so they know what is expected of them, and they need to be held accountable for those marketing efforts. Make sure any special promotions or services you offer to the community are reflected in your advertising. Marketing is not a one-time shot; it must be consistent and tracked to be successful! With that said, happy marketing and a very successful new year!

Pamela Alton is the owner of Mini-Management®, a nationwide managerplacement service. Mini- Management also offers full-service and operations only facility management, training manuals, inspections and audits, feasibility studies, consulting and training seminars. For more information, call 800.646.4648.

There are four steps to effectively marketing your self-storage facility. First, you need to entice people to pick up the phone and call you. Next, youve got to get those who call to visit you. Third, youve got to get those who visit to sign a rental agreement. Finally, you must convince your tenants to stay forever and tell all of their friends about you.

In this article, Id like to give you some tips to maximize your effectiveness in each of these areas. If you were to get just 5 percent better in each of these categories, youd be making a lot more money. To best track your marketing efforts, you have to measure all their essential elements: the number of calls you receive, where they come from, how many of those calls turn into visitors, and how many people who visit actually rent a unit.

Keeping track of those numbers will allow you to determine the effectiveness of your marketing. Without those numbers, youll have no way of knowing if the dollars you are spending on different marketing options make sense. In short, without data, you cant make intelligent business decisions. If you dont keep track, youre shooting in the dark.

Get the Phone to Ring

The first thing you need to do to be successful in the storage industry is to get the phone to ring. Without people calling, you wont be getting much business. Sure, youll get a certain number of people who rent from you without calling first, but for the most part, people call before coming in to rent.

The majority of self-storage operators concentrate on Yellow Pages advertising to get the phone to ring. In fact, for many owners, it is their entire marketing plan. In actuality, the Yellow Pages are one of the least efficient means of getting your phone to ring.

The best way to optimize your marketing efficiency is by using the R.O.M.D. (return on marketing dollars) system. This is a ratio that allows you to compare different marketing methodologies and determine which are more efficient. This allows you to prioritize your efforts based on their effectiveness. To get the highest R.O.M.D., you need to put out the least amount of money and get the greatest dollar return.

Repeat Customers

The cheapest customer to earn is the repeat customer. There are two primary ways to ensure people will come back and rent from you (if they have to leave in the first place). First, you need to give people outstanding service. For example, you need to offer all the little things people might need, like jumper cables, a hammer or a flashlight. Have them available to lend when people ask for them.

Another essential ingredient to repeat business is to keep your name in front of past customers with an occasional postcard that gives some information of value so it doesnt get tossed without being read. Few, if any, operators think to continue to mail customers who are no longer renting. Keep mailing to people even after they have moved out. Its inexpensive, and the payback is incredibly high.

Referrals

Referrals are another extremely inexpensive method of marketing. There are a number of different ways to stimulate them, but the key to getting more of them is simple: ask! Have your managers ask for referrals when people first sign the rental agreement, when a customer has a problem solved to his satisfaction, and when a tenant moves out. Do not be embarrassed to inquire. Asking at these crucial times is essential to maximizing the number of referrals you receive.

Another great way to stimulate referrals is to provide incentives. Offer tenants a discount on next months rent if they give you a referral. A lot of facilities offer this kind of program but very few have any massive success. Few of your renters will send you referrals for the money. Instead, they will be happy to send you referrals if you treat them right and ask them for their help. The postcards you send to previous customers wont hurt referrals either. Past tenants who receive mailers will be much more likely to send you business.

Centers of Influence Centers of influence are those individuals who have the potential to give you a lot of referrals and send a ton of business your way. These are the individuals with whom you must cultivate relationships. Examples include real estate agents, chambers of commerce, and heads of social organizations in your area.

If you can get these people to send you referrals once, they will usually continue to do so. Make sure to thank them for sending you business. You need to show gratitude each time they send a tenant your way. For example, it wouldnt hurt to show up with a pizza for them at lunch on occasion.

Direct Mail

Direct mail is any and everything you send people through the mail. Despite the prevalence of the Internet, direct mail should still be part of your marketing mix. In fact, with all of the e-mail people receive, direct mail is even more effective.

Whatever you do, concentrate on a specific niche. Rather than mailing an everyone piece, concentrate on a group that has already demonstrated interest in renting from you. Whether it be a group of lawyers or pharmaceutical reps, pick a niche and target it with a mail piece specific to its members. Test a postcard rather than sending a more expensive mailer that requires an envelope and inserts. Postcards are often more effective because they dont need to be opened.

Public Relations

If you can find a way to encourage your local media to cover a story about your facility, you will get more renters. This approach is a lot better than advertising in the newspaper, or on radio or TV. Not only are these media expensive, they are generally ineffective. Advertising is perceived as sales puff. Getting news coverage by the media is considered a tacit endorsement of your facility.

How do you get coverage? Host special or charitable events in your area. There are a multitude of options for community involvement. Be proactive about communicating with local newspapers, radio stations and cable TV stations. Dont be afraid to send out a press release about hosting a car wash for the high school band or that after-hours mixer.

Storage Hotline

Your storage hotline is a separate phone line and voicemail containing a recorded message listing all the features and benefits of your facility. Be sure to list your hotline in all of your marketing. If you advertise it as a recorded message, people will be more apt to call, as they know no one will be waiting to sell them something on the other end of the line. This is a nonthreatening approach and can be a tremendous sales tool.

Your message should be three to five minutes long and be accessible 24 hours a day. The hotline essentially becomes your mechanical salesperson that never gets tired, gives a perfect pitch each time, and only costs $20 or so each month. Getting the phone to ring at your facility is crucial to success. By offering a message during off-hours, you can only bolster your chances.

Yellow Pages

Even though advertising in the Yellow Pages is expensive and has a relatively low R.O.M.D., you should still place an adbut make sure to do it right! Here a few things you must do to create an effective Yellow Pages ad.

The most important element of your ad is your headline, which is the ad for your ad. Dont use your facility name as your headline. Instead, use your USP, your unique selling proposition. Highlight what you offer that no other facility in your market area does. People couldnt care less about the name of your facility. Only you care about this. Your customers care about their wants and needs.

Next, make sure you attach benefits to any features you list. The majority of potential renters reading your ad have not used storage before. This being the case, you cant assume they have a working knowledge of the storage business. Never just say, Lots of different size units. Make sure to add, So you never have to rent more space than you need.

In addition to your storage hotline, a small but readable map should be included in your ad. It must provide your major cross streets to give people a good idea where youre located. The map should also highlight well known landmarks in the area, such as the local Wal-Mart or other popular retailers close by. Finally, let people know if you accept credit cards and which ones, and make your web address prominent.

Getting Callers to Visit

Once your phone rings, your goal is to convert those people who call into visitors. This is all about phone-sales skills. If you can get people to visit, there is a very good chance you can get them to rent a unit. Here are some tips.

When people call, find out how they heard about your facility. This is essential to monitoring your marketing efforts. Then tell them your USP. Explaining whats unique about your facility will ensure that if prospects call other facilities, youll leave them with something that makes you memorable. Your presentation might go something like this: Thanks for calling ABC Storage, the only facility in town with individual door locks. How can I help you? Not only should you use your USP in the initial greeting, you will want to remind them of it before the end of the call.

Create a sense of urgency. People are more likely to buy if they feel in danger of losing something, such as the last unit of a particular size. Understand that your only goal is to get prospects to visit your facility. Try to commit them to a specific appointment time. Doing so will make them more likely to actually visit. If you can close more than 60 percent of those who call, youre doing a great job.

Converting Visits to Rental Agreements

Getting those who visit to sign a rental agreement requires you to have great face-to-face selling skills. Most managers are closing upward from 90 percent of prospects who visit their facilities. There are few things you need to do to increase your closing ratios.

People buy from people they like. Being a grumpy old man (or woman) certainly wont help your chances of getting people to rent from you. Be friendly and affable, but dont overdo it. Be yourself, but be your nice self.

The first thing a manager will usually do when someone visits a facility is take him on a tour. The cleaner and more well-maintained your facility, the higher the chances he will rent from you. On the tour, make sure to highlight the security features of the facility, as security is one of the most important features to prospects.

When youve finished the tour, make the assumption the prospect will be renting. Pull out your paperwork and get started. If someone has taken the time to come to your facility, he is likely going to rent a unit from someone. If it isnt you, it will be your competition. If the prospect decides not to rent from you, ask him why. Very few managers do this, but its a great way to find out what you can do better next time.

Get Them to Stay Forever
(and Tell All Their Friends)

Once a prospect rents from you, the key is to get him to stay as long as you can. Attracting new customers is much more costly than keeping your current ones. In most cases, you have little control over when a person needs storage. When a tenants new house is completed and hes ready to move in, storage may no longer be necessary. These arent the tenants were focusing on here.

People who do continue to need storage will generally only move out under two conditions: if they are treated poorly or you raise prices too drastically. The way to avoid the first situation is fairly obvious. However, if someone complains about his rental rates, find a way to keep him. If you have to freeze his rates, do itunless your occupancy is so high you are actually trying to get people out of their units.

Conclusion

So there you have it, the simple four-step process for storage marketing success. There are other marketing options to explore in greater detail, such as your facility website and other marketing collateral, such as brochures. The basic recommendations provided above will supply an excellent base. Follow them, and you will be more competitive, have higher occupancy, and grow your bottom line.

Fred Gleeck is a self-storage profit-maximization consultant who helps owners/operators during all phases of the business, from feasibility studies to creating an ongoing marketing plan. Mr. Gleeck is the author of Secrets of Self Storage Marketing SuccessRevealed! as well as the producer of professional training videos on self-storage marketing. To receive a copy of his Seven-Day Self-Storage Marketing Course and storage marketing tips, send an e-mail to tips@selfstoragesuccess.com. For more information, call 800.FGLEECK; e-mail fgleeck@aol.com.

When Jay Sundher opened Hollywood Storage Center last summer in Newbury Park, Calif., he didnt settle for a few fliers or advertisements in the local newspaper. Rather the storage manager set out to create an extravagant event including food, giveaways, wine-tasting and balloons. And it worked. The upscale event attracted 300 would-be customers. It was also a chance to showcase the facilitys many facets. A lot of people didnt know there was wine storage available in the community. They didnt realize there was such a thing as vault storage and what that meant until they came out and saw it, Sundher says.

Marketing through special events is no longer limited to grand openings. Self-storage managers and owners are finding success with smaller events such as car shows, fundraisers and business mixers.

It gets a lot of the community members and local business people out to the facility. These are people who, under normal circumstances, wouldnt be out there unless they had a specific need, says Sundher.

Special-event marketing is really about networking and frequency, says Tina Fleming, who runs Fleming Management Services with her husband, David. The couple have hosted a variety of different events, including a Halloween haunted house, car shows and business after-hours mixers. We have gotten a lot of positive feedback from all of those events, she says. The creative-marketing part of it is coming up with new and different ideas.

One of the most successful events the couple hosted was a haunted house on Halloween. They decorated climate-control and traditional units by themes. A 10-by-20 became a graveyard, the inside of a 10-by-15 a haunted living room, and a 5-by-10 featured a hanging ghoul and coffin. The couple used several units for pumpkin-carving, face-painting, games and food. Fleming wrote to local businesses small and largeand asked them to assist with the costs. She also asked the local grocery store to donate apples and called Pepsi Cola of Buffalo, N.Y., for a donation of soda. To market the event, she sent fliers to her sons elementary school.

Melissa Hermes, president of Manager On-Call, a provider of call-center services for the self-storage industry, has capitalized on special events to promote her own self-storage business, Crown Storage, which has two locations in Kentucky. Hermes has hosted everything from car shows to clothing drives. She also collected goods for the troops during the early months of the war. Hermes believes its important to get involved in the community any way you can. Its goodwill. The community will recognize your name, and its synonymous with a good feeling. When the need for self-storage arises, theyre going to think of us because they remember our name.

Another marketing strategy Hermes tried was offering an athletic association a free unit in which to store its equipment. Wed have 30 families coming to pick up equipment. And they remember that, she says.

After-hours business mixers can introduce your facility to potential business clients and serve as a marketing tool. Brad North, founder of Advantage Business Consulting, plans to host a business mixer for pharmaceutical sales reps looking for climatecontrol units. Well have giveaways, provide food and do it very professionally, he says. It will be a neat event because its specifically targeted to an audience we think will be a great customer for us.

A car show is one of the easiest and most popular events. Fleming suggests calling your local speedway and asking for a promo car to be sent to your occasion. From there you can build on it. Some of your customers may be storing cars and will want to show them, she says. You can also tap into local car clubs who are always looking for places to show and socialize. Rent a hot-dog stand or cotton candy machine. Ask a local mover to have a table with brochures and goodies like pizza or snacks. You can make it like a carnival. Have someone in a costume waving people in. Make it a family event, Fleming says.

Once you get the people in your parking lot, offer them a giveaway bag. To ensure theyll accept it, dont include your logo on the outside of the bag, Fleming advises. That way the person has no idea whats inside.

However, do add product information, such as a brochure with rates, a discount coupon, business card, and maybe something fun like a key ring or magnet.

Get the Word Out

Before reserving that clown suit or printing colorful fliers, owners and managers should make some very detailed plans. North suggests taking out a piece of paper and jotting down answers to these questions:

• Who do we need to invite?
• What are the best avenues to advertise our event?
• What is our ultimate goal?
• Who is the target audience?

The next step is getting the word out. Be creative. In addition to traditional avenues such as fliers and newspaper ads, consider nonconventional ideas like asking the chamber of commerce to announce your event in its newsletter or contacting the local radio station. Local churches may also be willing to announce your event in their weekly newsletter or just before service, or pass out fliers. Also visit any place with a bulletin board, including laundromats, car washes, grocery stores, etc., and tack up a flier detailing your event, Hermes advises.

Advertise the special event on reader boards or put a short notice at the bottom of invoices for existing customers. North suggests hand-delivering fliers to local key influencers: apartment communities, housing communities, the chamber of commerce, local businesses, customers from other sites and corporations. In addition, He recommends inviting the local police and fire departments. Theyll bring out a fire truck and have fun things for the kids, he says.

Finally, consider partnering with the chamber of commerce or other local businesses. The event works for more than one person and it helps to float the cost, Sundher says. Some restaurants or grocers will provide food for free for the exposure.

Regardless if your special event is big or small, the overall objective is the same: to create top-of-mind awareness. Its about making people who dont necessarily need storage notice you, Fleming points out. When they do need storage, or know of someone who does, they will remember you.

Technology is more simple and complex than it used to be. This may seem contradictory, but it is true. Software is simpler: It features a graphical user interface (fonts, color, icons, etc.). There has been 30 years of research into what easy to use really means. It is more forgiving of errors. The familiarity of Windows-based software makes it easier to learn new programs. Software is complex: It has to work simultaneously with many programs. It has to work in conjunction with other programs. It has to work on top of multiple and ever-changing versions of Windows. It has to work on multiple computers and in different locations, using the Internet for communications. It has to have more functions.

The DOS Platform has a difficult user interface, but it only has to work alone. The Windows platform, on the other hand, has a simple user interface, but has to work in a complex environment. This completely changes the nature of what you have to know about technology.

With DOS, you needed training that focused on the basics of operations. Much of it was memorizing which keys to press or what part of the program to use. With Windows, it is usually easy to figure out how to operate the program without having to memorize things. Developers design programs to be intuitivethat is, which button you click or what you type into a field seems naturaland match your work flow, so the overall steps are predictable.

Less important to learning self-storage management software are the basic steps of the rental processpayment, move-in, move-out, etc. Given a chance to use a program, you will figure those things out. Actual technology training should focus on two key areas: understanding the computing environment and developing a thorough understanding of your management software.

Understanding the Computing Environment

The computing environment includes your computers, servers, Windows software, network, Internet connections, printers, and all the other hardware (screens, keyboards, mice, cables, routers, modems, etc.). Your management software depends upon this complex system of interconnected parts, so its important to have a good understanding of it.

When you click OK with your mouse and pointer, do you know what is going to happen, or do you just know you are supposed to click OK? Heres my first rule: If you use it, understand it. For example, when you do your nightly backup, do you follow the procedure without thinking, or do you understand what is being backed up, how it is being backed up, and how you can verify it was backed up properly? Often, learning something like this may be as simple as watching the screen, reading the progress messages, and making the effort to understand each one.

You can learn much on your own, but not enough. Staff Windows training is essential and should be part of every self-storage companys budget. Local community colleges, computer stores and many online schools offer a wide variety of Windows and other technical classes, and I recommend them. Keep in mind this computing environment is ever-changing, and much of the specifics of what you learn today may be completely obsolete in five years. However, if you keep up with training, it becomes the basis for learning even more.

It is important to set annual goals to understand each part of the technology (e.g., this quarter, learn network security, next quarter, learn e-mail security, etc.). The two most important things to understand are network security and communications. You must know how you communicate with the outside world, and you must know how to keep your information safe.

You can go out and buy the best computer and software, and hire the best pros to set it all up; but if your staff doesnt know how to use it, it wont do you any good. Staff training should include training in Windows, e-mail, the Internet, word-processing and, of course, the management and other software specific to your business.

The self storage industrys major software applications are management and access control software. These often run side-by-side on the same computer, usually working seamlessly as they exchange information. However, there are probably other programs also running, and you should understand each of them. These might include anti-virus software, word-processing software, spreadsheets, e-mail, caller-ID software, credit-card software, chat programs and Internet browsers. Windows manages how all of these programs share the processor, memory, disk drives and video. You should know what programs are running, what each is for, and how they all affect each other.

The computing environment is going to be subject to massive transformation over the coming years. Be prepared for change on all levels. This will be driven fast and furiously by security and will mean changes to Windows, the protocols used for networks to communicate, and the way in which these things are presented (touch screens, voice activation, etc.).

SUMMARY

• Know your Windows operating system.
• Implement appropriate security measures.
• Understand the communications infrastructure.
• Train staff in Windows, word-processing, e-mail and the Internet.
• Thoroughly understand each of your major applications.
• Be prepared for changes.

Understanding Your Management Software

Software customers use less than half the features of their software. With programs like Microsoft Excel and Word, it is actually less than 10 percent. So it is very likely your management software can do much more for you than it is currently doing. For example, the software may have a daily calendar you dont use.

Having to do things only once saves us a great deal of time, and the more time technology saves us, the more time we have to take care of more important things, such as customer service, marketing and expansion. Using the calendar example, you can write an entry on your paper calendar, but the person at the desk next to you doesnt have the entry. You can go write it on his calendar, but what if you had 5, 10 or 50 employees? If you enter it into the computer, everyone instantly has access to the informationand you have that much more time to take care of other important activities.

Exceptions are, ironically, a common occurrence in the self-storage business. Make sure your staff is properly trained in the handling of exceptions, such as discounts, unit transfers, daily prorates, prepayments, refunds, returns, etc. The steps they must take in these instances may not be obvious to everyone because there are probably multiple ways of handling them.

For example, if a check is returned, an operator might use the Add Charge feature to add a miscellaneous amount equal to the check plus the NSF fee. However, you may prefer employees use the management softwares built-in routine for reversing payments so the returned check is properly noted on reports. You must understand these activities in detail. Develop and document the procedures you want followed, and train your staff.

SUMMARY

• Most users make use of only a fraction of the capabilities of their software.
• Technology is a tool that gives us more time for more important things.
• Take advantage of the features available to help meet key business goals: better customer service, increased revenues and reduced costs.
• Training should focus on exception handling, not basic operations.

What You Should Do Today

No matter what level user you are today, resolve not to be what I call a black-box user. Set a goal of understanding what happens when you punch those buttons. Dont get too technical or detailedjust try to understand what the software is doing, not how it is doing it.

The average Fortune 500 companys technology budget is about 3 percent of its revenue. Small businesses average less than half of that figure. Our research indicates selfstorage facilities generally spend less than 1 percent on technology per year, and most of that is spent on computer hardware. Our hardware spending is probably right in line, but we need to invest in the human capital in training the managers, assistant managers and supervisors to use the technology.

If you are a storage-facility manager, you may find the responsibility of the companys technical infrastructure is yours as just one of many duties. Companies with multiple sites may have one or more person responsible. Regardless, whoever is in charge should set annual goals for implementing new technology. Dont change everything all at once, do so incrementally. For example, one month, get an Internet connection. The next month, set up e-mail. The following month, set up another workstation, etc. Make a similar set of goals for technical training.

Finally, make sure you have a disaster recovery plan. Technology is especially important to protect because it is highly dependent on a complex infrastructure. A disaster can be natural, man-made, or as every day an event as your manager quitting. In fact, your most effective disaster planning will center on recovery of information and human knowledge, not hardware.

SUMMARY

• Dont be a black-box user. Understand your technology.
• Know your technology budget.
• Set specific technology goals for each year.
• Implement change incrementally and continuously.
• Develop ongoing technology training for staff.
• Develop a disaster-recovery plan.

Michael Richards is the president of HI-Tech Smart Systems, maker of RentPlus® and Mini-StoragePlus® software for self-storage. Mr. Richards has been involved in the selfstorage industry for more than 20 years, and has been a frequent speaker at industry events and a contributor to industry publications. He can be reached via e-mail at miker@hitechsoftware.com; phone 800.551.8324; www.hitechsoftware.com.

Several months ago, I was in the local mall looking for a new pair of sunglasses. When I entered one specialty store, my initial reaction was disappointment. I was unimpressed with the displays and personnel, and the absence of images associated with the product. Displays were old and desperately needed to be cleaned. None of the employees welcomed me or asked if I needed assistance.

After looking at various pairs of sunglasses, I did find a pair I liked. However, when I removed them from the case, I noticed a thin layer of dust covering them. I wanted to learn more about these particular glasses before making my purchase. Unfortunately, the only information I could gather was they were manufactured by a well-known designer, they cost $100, and my hands were getting very dirty from holding them. I left the store.

The second store I visited was significantly smaller than the first; but immediately on entering the store, I was greeted by a salesperson who asked if I needed assistance. He showed me a pair of glasses just like the one I had tried in the other store. He gave me information about them such as the warranty, the amount of protection against UV light and the material of which the glasses were made.

As I looked around the store, I saw it was professionally merchandisedit was obvious the owners understood what they were selling. I could see my reflection in the glass of the displays, and the manager did a great job keeping the store spotless. There were colorful advertisements displayed of attractive men and women wearing sunglasses. The only difference was these sunglasses cost $130 instead of $100. Everything about this store made my decision easy. I spent the extra $30.

What does this have to do with self-storage? First, it demonstrates how easy it is to win or lose customers. Remember, your facility is like any retail business. First impressions count! Customers buy where they feel comfortable.

Store personnel, displays and environment are important factors. If customers enter your office areaexcuse me, your retail areaand see poorly packaged products or carelessly merchandised displays, you are silently communicating many things to them. Having a clean store, nicely merchandised displays and informative personnel all give customers important clues about the way you do business. The wrong first impression makes a potential customer not only uncomfortable about purchasing supplies but possibly about renting storage space.

A professional image is one way to help rent units, and good merchandising is part of that image. It doesnt only increase retail-supply sales, it gives customers confidence in doing business with your organization. Once self-storage operators understand merchandising is an important piece of the marketing puzzle, theyll understand its not just about selling moving supplies.

The truth is, customers are always judging you when making their buying decisions. Saving a penny here and there on supplies is important; but what good is it to save pennies if you throw away dollars by not effectively merchandising your store? Youve already spent a significant amount of time and money building or buying a facility. Dont stop there! The sales office/retail area is one of the first things a potential customer will see when visiting your facility. If he is unimpressed, you might not get a chance to talk about the benefits of storing at your property.

Roy Katz is president of Supply Side, which distributes packaging as well as moving and storage supplies. The company has developed merchandising programs for many leading companies including Storage USA, the U.S. Postal Service, Kinkos and Mail Boxes Etc. For more information, call 800.284.7357 or 216.738.1200.

Many companies will tell you their direct-mail campaign was a failure because they only had five new customers result from a 30,000-piece mailing. But when asked, they admit to not sourcing, documenting or recording every call, or spending any time to work an effective phone presentation. Most are simply quoting a rate, listing a few features, offering an invitation to the site and saying good-bye. Unless we source every call, monitor the conversation, and compel the potential customer to come see us, our advertising cost and effectiveness is mediocre at best.

To justify advertising in any form, your services and products must be differentiated from competing goods and services. Otherwise, why would a potential customer pick you over your competition? The answer is, a prospect would choose your business because you offer unique selling propositions (USPs). These are the features and techniques that make you stand out among your rival facilities.

Some examples of USPs are air-conditioning, climate control, wine storage, vault storage, individual alarms, computerized access, conference rooms, business centers, truck and driver pick-up services, and kids play areas. I suggest everyone find their own USPs, then start using them in phone presentations and advertising. You will be surprised about the positive effect on potential customers.

Key Components

There are three components that must be present to obtain a new customer: advertising, consulting and selling the space. If we fail at any of these three elements, we will most likely lose the prospect.

The first component is advertising, which has one objective: to get the customer to call. It will not do anything more, but it can do a lot less. If advertising does not effectively differentiate your facility from others, the phone will not ring. Thousands of books and consultants describe ad structure and content. If you are not an expert in this field, find one; this is money well spent.

Here are some simple tips on designing your advertising. Give a legitimate, compelling, good offer. Keep it simple, open and clean. Most ads give too much information and never get read or noticed. Use your name sparingly. Humor, color and theme are all differentiating factors that may be used effectively. Size and position make a difference in the Yellow Pages. Keep radio and TV spots short with high saturation. Use high-volume direct mail.

There are many ways to advertise. In a self-storage business, we need to pay attention to the less obvious marketing we should be using every day: site cleanliness, effective display of signs, clean landscape, well-displayed retail products, respectful and well-trained staff, and a set of clean and well-lit model storage rooms. Again, these are a few ideas that can differentiate your self-storage business from the competition. This is advertising!

To begin, create a simple ad budget similar to the accompanying table. You do not have to get bids to plug in your numbers. This is more of a wish list at first. As you may know, Yellow Pages generally dominate the budget, especially for a site in lease-up. All forms of advertising in the table have been used successfully. I recommend using something comparable and adding other options based on your market.

Click here  to view chart

Eighty percent of all customers use the Yellow Pages to contact your storage business. Hire a specialist when designing your display ads; it is worth the cost. Differentiation is paramount. Size and position are very important. The closer to the front of the heading, the better the chance you have to expose your business. Color works well, however, it is an additional cost. New to Yellow Pages advertising is the in-column display ad. Approximately 10 percent of Yellow Pages users make use of the in-column listings. Most companies only allow you to have two.

Television is a very effective way to differentiate and advertise your storage business. Your spot should be 30 to 60 seconds. High saturation works best. Generally, effective TV budgets for storage businesses range from $5,000 to $10,000 a month and are excellent tools for bringing in 50 to 100 new customers per month.

Radio advertising can be purchased similarly to TV, only it less expensive. The production cost is usually free. Effective radio advertising is done during morning and evening drive times. Saturation is important. When combined with TV, radio is even more effective. Traffic report sponsorship is also efficient and inexpensive.

Direct mail, if purchased correctly, can produce excellent results. It is purchased in bulk and works with high saturation. You may count on an approximately .1 percent response on your mailing. The cost is about 3 cents per piece.

Professionally designed door hangers have proven to be a very successful self-storage medium. I recommend a quality laminated 3-by-9-inch piece, full color, with a perforated offer card at the bottom. Door hangers cost about 20 cents each and are available in varied quantities depending on the market.

Colored fliers are another advertising option that can be distributed to competition, realtors, attorneys, insurance companies, auto dealerships, etc. These are just a few examples that have shown successful results.

Effective advertising causes the phone to ring, brings in clients, accelerates lease-up time and fills vacancies. Your staff should be competent enough to convert leads on the phone to sales at the site. Each phone call is worth about $800 to $1600, and a well-planned ad campaign will benefit you in the long run. Now, go out there and get em. Your customers are not waiting!

Greg Call is owner of StorageWorks, a think-tank that has provided new ideas for the self-storage industry for the past 22 years. The company consults, designs, manages and brokers self-storage from its base in Irvine, Calif. For more information and a free demographic report on your site, call 949.813.3003 or e-mail selfstorage works@cox.net. Visit www.selfstorageworks.com.

Self-storage developers who want to build in the best possible locations are increasingly limited by a shortage of sites in the most desirable populated areas. Available land parcels are usually small, often irregular in shape and always very expensive. These obstacles to development must be overcome to successfully complete a self-storage project in an upscale urban environment. To meet the huge demand for storage space in these areas, developers are turning to architects to design bigger, attractive projects on smaller sites.

So what do these projects look like? How do they work? How do they comply with stringent zoning codes and technically demanding building codes? Why are they successful?

Before taking a look at specific sites, its helpful to summarize the common physical characteristics of these types of projects:

• Small sitesUsually 1 to 1.5 acres, but sometimes as small as one-half acre.
• Multilevel designUsually three or four levels above ground, often with basements and, in rare cases, two basement levels.
• Large floor areas60,000- to 90,000-square-foot buildings are common.
• Large site coverage by buildingsBuilding coverage of 40 percent to 60 percent is common.
• Large floor-area ratiosThe relationship between the size of a buildings area and the size of the site is known as the floor-area ratio. The higher the floor-area ratio, the denser the development. Common floor ratios are 1.0 to 2.0 or more on these types of projects.
• Building heightThree- and four-story structures are 35 to 45 feet high and often contain decorative design towers that reach heights of 50 feet or more.
• Limited parking/loading areaThe large building coverage leaves less than half the site available for driveways, parking, loading zones and landscaping. Maximum efficiency of on-site vehicular circulation is an absolute necessity.
• AestheticsQuality aesthetic design is of prime importance in oversized buildings in highly visible retail/commercial areas. Static box-like design is not acceptable in any sophisticated urban community.

Conclusion

Each project has been successfully guided through the process of:

• Design drawings
• Governmental land-use approval
• Construction drawings
• Governmental-building permit approval
• Construction

This process often takes up to two years due to complexities of obtaining approvals and building in dense urban environments.

These projects have reached ar are reaching occupancies well ahead of projections at lease rates that are the highest in the industry. The bottom line is these facilities provide the customer what he wants: convenient location, easy access, security and quality appearance inside and out. For those developers and operaters who have the patience and knowledge, the returns are worth the effort. For more information, call 949.349.1777.