Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed the revised self-storage lien statute into law Friday after three years of effort from the Florida Self Storage Association (FSSA) and the national Self Storage Association (SSA).

The measure, effective July 1, enables operators of Florida's more than 2,600 self-storage facilities to use cheaper and more effective delinquency-notification options, such as e-mail or First Class Mail with a Certificate of Mailing.

The new statute also contains the following provisions:

• Tenants can provide a change of address to the facility using First Class Mail or e-mail. Currently, a tenant must hand deliver his address-change notice or send it via Certified Mail.
• Self-storage rental contracts or applications ask whether a person is in the military. By knowing which tenants serve in the military, a facility operator can extend to them protections against lien-sale proceedings according to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.

"It has been a long three years in passing the modernized lien statute but it has finally come to fruition," said Robert Bret, FSSA executive director. "Most importantly, it helps operators save money, specifically money that they had to spend without results." Bret specifically mentioned Mike Mele, president of the FSSA Board of Trustees, and Tim Dietz, senior vice president of governmental affairs for the SSA, as being particularly instrumental in leading the lobbying effort.

Florida is the third of the three largest states to improve its lien law in three years. Both the California and Texas lien laws were recently updated. Like the Florida law, the revised California law broadened the delinquency-notification process to include First Class Mail with a Certificate of Mailing, in addition to other changes. The Texas law made similar expansions, including the use of e-mail and verified-mail notifications, and a requirement to inquire about active-military status.

The history and progress of the bill (House Bill 715, Senate Bill 646) can be tracked at www.flsenate.gov.

Finance and investment writer and blogger Amanda Alix, a contributor to investment adviser "The Motley Fool," recently extolled the benefits of investing in self-storage real estate investment trusts (REIT), calling them great investments.

Alix cited a Wall Street Journal report that said self-storage REITs enjoyed a 35.4 percent return in 2011, compared with 8 percent for other REITs. She echoed the report's claim that foreclosures actually pushed many consumers into self-storage and compared with other commercial renters, self-storage saw little overall revenue drop during the recession.

The writer singled out Extra Space Storage Inc. for having its stock price climb 40 percent per share in the past year. She also mentioned Public Storage Inc.'s place as the largest REIT and noted its stock price rose 25 percent. The four U.S.-based self-storage REITs are CubeSmart, Extra Space, Public Storage, and Sovran Self Storage Inc., which operates under the brand Uncle Bob's Self Storage.

She predicts the future will only be rosier for the REITs: "In addition to helping storage facilities stay informed of what the competition is up to, the Internet has also helped heighten awareness of the industry among consumers, which brings in more business. There is strong evidence that the industry will be able to continue increasing rents this year and into the future, due to decreased competition."

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By Hayden Harrison

Call Potential, a cloud-based program that takes self-storage operators "from cradle to grave" during the self-storage sales process, is one of a kind, according to founder Phil Murphy, an industry veteran whos family owns and operates several facilities in Illinois under the Next Door Storage brand.

Unlike most programs that only help with one aspect of the selling process, Call Potential increases the number of callers converted to customers by hitting on every important step in the sales journey.

The program helps self-storage operators be consistent on follow-up calls, offers information on customers, improves employees call efficiency and optimizes advertising investments to increase revenue.

Call Potential wasn't built to make you change your business, Murphy says. It was built to accommodate the way you do business. Murphy uses the program at all 13 of his locations, and his conversion rate in many locations has increased  to more than 50 percent.

Call Potential came about while Murphy was researching ways to increase the industrys average 30 percent conversion rate. He discovered much of the problem was due to lack of follow-up calls, which is important because the company that reconnects with customers is going to end up landing the sale.

To fix these problems, Call Potential makes a list of potential customers with whom managers should follow-up via phone. Because calls are recorded and information is taken at the time of the first call, the employee making the subsequent call will be familiar with the customers storage needs, which will create an instant connection rather than be interpreted as a cold sales call. Self-storage owners can even customize the program to better suit their facilitys needs, including what information they want to obtain.

Another problem Murphy discovered was the inconsistency in the way employees portrayed the company and its key benefits. Call Potential fixes this problem by helping owners and staff know the key areas in which they need to improve. The program grades each call and, at the end of each month, every employee receives a detailed report card online that shows every calls grade and the employees progress.

In addition to helping managers improve closing ratios, Call Potential can also assist self-storage owners in evaluating their marketing strategies. When a call comes in, the program will automatically show where the customer found the facilitys number, such as the facilitys website, an online third-party, a print ad or other advertisement. This allows owners to see how many calls are made from each form and how many were actual leads, enabling operators to determine the cost per call, cost per lead and cost per sale.

They can use individual tracking numbers or we can capture every call through their primary line, Murphy says. However, to get the most out of the system, they should use the call-tracking numbers we provide in all of their advertising.

Owners can then reduce advertisement costs by eliminating unproductive ads."It's going to give owners better information to make decisions," Murphy says.

Call Potential will continue to evolve, based on customer feedback and as new technology emerges. "All the tools, are built for getting more sales from the rings you're already getting," Murphy says. Owners shouldnt be satisfied with 30 percent conversion ratio. With the right tools, they can achieve better results.

For more information, call 877.55.CALLS; visit www.callpotential.com.

Self-storage real estate investment trusts (REITs) are reaping the benefits of growing consumer demand and a record-low level of new facility development, according to Christian Sonne, managing director of the Self Storage Industry Group for Cushman & Wakefield, one of the world's largest privately held commercial real estate services firms. In an interview with REIT.com, the official website of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), Sonne shared several positive market factors for self-storage REITs.

Because of the current supply-demand dynamic, Sonne anticipates self-storage will continue to command higher rents. While the number of new facilities opening is low across the country, Sonne told the source market conditions are especially strong in key cities in the eastern United States.

There were fewer than 100 new self-storage facilities built in 2011, and Sonne said 2012 is off to a slow start. Meanwhile, occupancy rates for self-storage REITs are up 2.2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to 1.1 percent nationwide for all self-storage companies. Sonne added self-storage customers are gradually increasing their average stay, which is now between a year and 15 months.

With occupancy rates rising, the average rental price for self-storage REITs is up 6 percent in the first quarter, compared to a 2 percent decrease nationwide for all self-storage companies.

Sonne attributes some of the REITs' success to what he called the sophisticated management platform of each of the four companies: CubeSmart, Extra Space Storage Inc., Public Storage Inc. and Sovran Self Storage Inc. (Uncle Bob's Self Storage).

Self-storage REITs generated total returns of 29.83 percent last year, while the FTSE NAREIT All Equity REIT Total Returns Index was up 11.29 percent. In the first quarter of 2012, self-storage REITs had total returns of 2.70 percent.

Sonne said that during the recent recession, the foreclosure rate in self-storage was low and affected mostly small operators. He added self-storage has the lowest share of distressed assets of all sectors of the REIT industry.

Last, Sonne predicted the growth of public self-storage companies will most likely come via acquisitions as opposed to new construction. However, as talks of consolidation in the industry continue, Sonne said the pace is very slow. Although more REIT investment money is flowing into the self-storage sector, REITs own less than 20 percent of the industry.

There are more buyers than sellers, said Sonne, adding that many private owners are choosing to not sell and lock in at low interest rates.

An auction buyer who attended a self-storage lien sale at Metro Self Storage on the South Side of Chicago acquired what appear to be two Chicago Bulls NBA championship rings encased in plastic, along with personal and political items, from a space that belonged to former Cook County Board of Commissioners President John Stroger. However, a possibility looms the rings are replicas.

Chris Amer spent $450 for the unit's contents and, along with the rings, found several hundreds of photos of the deceased Stroger, including one with former President Clinton. Several college plaques and awards were also in the unit. Amer contacted the Stroger family Monday to tell them he'd found the memorabilia, and Stroger's son Todd, who is also a former Cook County Board president, said he would like to get some of the items back. The elder Stroger was the first African-American president of the board.

When asked about the rings, the Chicago Bulls sent the following to the Chicago Tribune: "We haven't seen the rings you referenced so can't comment on them, specifically; however, as a year-end gift after the Bulls' fifth and sixth championships (1997 and 1998), we sent all season-ticket holders a replica ring encased in Lucite. Approximately 6,000 of each ring were made to accommodate every account."

Lake Forest, Ill.-based Metro Self Storage has more than 100 facilities in 13 states.

StorageUnitAuctionList.com, a nationwide directory of self-storage unit auctions, has revamped its website and added more than 43,000 self-storage facilities to its database. The company has added a Web page for each of these facilities to help subscribers find self-storage auctions in specific locales.

Now users of the website can click on a "Browse Facilities Near You" feature to view all active auction sites in an area. They cal also add facilities to a favorites list, so when those facilities schedule auctions, the event dates are automatically entered to the user's auction itinerary. Users can set alerts for these auctions via SMS or e-mail notifications.

In addition, because smaller towns may not be as active with auctions as larger cities, each facility page will list the addresses, dates and times for upcoming auctions in neighboring locations if there are none scheduled for that particular site. An additional perk is the self-updating weather-table feature, which is present on each page and reflects the weather conditions at any given self-storage auction, coast to coast.

Auction information is delivered to StorageUnitAuctionList.com from associate facilities through a simple form. Entries include the facility name, address and approximately how many units are being auctioned. The website's staff of more than 25 full-time employees verifies each auction by contacting the facility 48 hours prior to the scheduled event.

The one thing everyone has to keep in mind when thinking about storage auctions is that they exist for a reason, said Maddison Lake, president and founder of StorageUnitAuctionList.com. To most storage-facility operators, storage auctions are vital to recover losses on delinquent accounts and free up additional space for new customers. We have never forgotten and, as a result, weve done our best to make it easier for self-storage operators to quickly and conveniently list their auctions on our website, to reach a more serious, motivated and driven force of auction hunters in their local areas.

Lake founded the enterprise in Asheville, N.C., in 2010. Provided by a network of self-storage facility owners and auctioneers, the website helps subscribers keep an organized schedule of upcoming auctions with resources such as maps, calendars and tables. It also provides detailed information on self-storage laws to help protect facility owners, auctioneers, buyers and tenants and establish best practices for self-storage auctions.

Self-storage operator Storage Post has expanded its online functionality with reservation technology that allows customers to reserve units directly from Facebook. The company is using technology from Definition 6, a unified marketing, advertising and Web design agency in Atlanta.

Users can now search for Storage Post storage units and browse the various options before selecting and reserving a unitall without leaving Facebook. This functionality was designed to capture the browsing behaviors of Facebook users, and to quickly convert Facebook page visits to actual rental reservations.

The main goal with our Facebook integration was to reduce the time it took for a customer to find us on Facebook, search in their geographic area and reserve a unit. With the assistance of the Definition 6 team, weve successfully expanded our reservation technology into social media, said Jackson Wilson, Storage Posts chief technology officer. Now customers have the convenience of a storage search that doesn't interrupt their Facebook experience.

In addition, Facebook users can expect to encounter the aesthetics and personality of Storage Posts new brand identity, which was recently revealed with the launch of the redesigned company website. The Facebook page displays graphics, colors and language similar to the website, thereby increasing consumer brand recognition.

Storage Post anticipates a steady increase in Facebook reservations due to the interactive platform which allows users to view real-time unit availability and promotions without ever leaving Facebook.

With offices in Atlanta and New York, Definition 6 supports a client base that includes The Coca-Cola Co., Mitsubishi Electric and Cox Enterprises.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Storage Post has locations throughout the East Coast and is actively pursuing self-storage acquisitions. 

Most self-storage operators would agree that offering ancillary products or services on top of their unit rentals can be a great way to grab more market share and increase revenue. While the addition of services such as wine storage, records storage, vehicle storage and retail sales certainly requires planning from an operational standpoint, do you know what you need from a design perspective?

When it comes to designing space for your add-on products and services, you must consider the square footage required, local building restrictions, construction costs, your existing facility layout and more. Following is an overview of things to consider when building out space for ancillary offerings.

Design That Caters to Wine Customers
By Jim Ponti, Central Region Sales Manager, Janus International, www.janusint.com

Traditional self-storage and wine storage have proven to make a good marriage, and the basic self-storage operational design caters to wine storage with little additional personnel or operating expenses. However, wine storage requires specific amenities to ensure customers wine is safely stored. The basic list includes:

• A properly insulated and designed perimeter that will prevent air movement and condensation
• A multi-tiered, high-level security system
• A properly designed and consistent moisture and temperature-control system (package or custom designed)
• A temperature- and moisture-level logging system
• 24-hour access via a safe, dedicated after-hours entrance

Its best to have dual or redundant temperature- and humidity-control systems so a mechanical backup is always available. Emergency power backup should also be placed very high on the priority list. A truly marketable facility will have all of the above. Remember, even minor variations in temperature can reduce the value of a bottle of wine significantly.

Just as curb appeal matters when renting self-storage units, the interior finish of your wine-storage area should conjure a positive image. With a variety of building choices, take into account your own preferences and the perceived standards of the local market.

Wine lockers can be constructed of many materials, from exotic woods to standard self-storage interior products. A happy medium between wood and steel can be found in a popular product now on the marketFrench oak wood-grain embossed steel. With an oak-like façade, this system costs slightly more than the plain white metal-locker systems, but has the look of the more high-end custom-wood locker systems. This system is also designed to the facility owners specifications and interior dimensions. A variety of locker sizes can be accommodated, including single-, double- and triple-stacked.

Many facilities also include some type of common room that can be used by wine-storage tenants for small gatherings, tastings and meetings. Plan to include wireless Internet access and a wall-mounted TV/monitor that can used as a PC display.

As a final construction detail, try to avoid or minimize halogen and natural lighting in the wine-storage area itself. In addition to the heat from operation, halogen bulbs emit virtually the full spectrum of light, including infrared and ultraviolet. The infrared wavelength will increase the heat load of the area, and the ultraviolet wavelength can damage the wine.

Designing Space for Records Storage
By Cary F. McGovern (aka "FileMan), Commercial Records Management Specialist, www.fileman.com, and Lori L. Palmer, Executive Vice President, REB Storage Systems International, www.rebsteel.com

Records storage is different from traditional self-storage in several key areas. Think of it as activity vs. passivity. You become the custodian of the units (file boxes), something not every self-storage operator feels comfortable doing. That said, its by far the greatest generator of revenue that can be achieved in self-storage space. Simply put, records storage charges for the air above the square foot.

What do you need to consider from a design perspective? The answer is space and racking. Although its always advisable to use the space with the highest ceiling height, racking is purchased one unit at a time and is a depreciable asset.

New and even used shelving is easily obtainable. When storing 8 or 9 feet high, you can use solid decking instead of 50 percent open decking. Unit sizes ideal for racking include 8 by 8, 10 by 10, 10 by 15, 15 by 15 and 20 by 20. Using the bigger units is often more cost-effective for the customer.

There are two primary types of racking. Rivet-style racking normally stores five boxes wide by two boxes deep by two boxes high per shelf, or 20 boxes per shelf. Sometimes these racks can store three high depending on the shelf supports for increased capacity. The other type is pallet racking with nine or 10 boxes wide by three boxes deep by three boxes high. However, this shelving is harder to find used and is usually more expensive new.

Space for Recreational Vehicles
By Caesar Wright, President, Mako Steel Inc., www.makosteel.com

I refer to boat/RV-storage buildings as self-storage on steroids. They use the same basic principals in structural design and construction, but the height and width of the units is greater. As for the overall site design, drive aisles and turn radii need to be increased exponentially, and traffic flow in and out of the site needs to be heavily considered.

The most important element in offering storage for boats, RVs and other vehicles is space. RVs take up a lot of it, and the requirements for drive aisles and turn radii are twice that of a typical self-storage property. The good folks at Winnebago have helped determine a rule of thumb that works pretty well in most scenarios: Whenever youre storing a 20-, 30- or 40-foot vehicle, make your drive-aisle space a minimum of 50 feet to allow safe access to each of the units.

Your typical vehicle storage comprises a fully enclosed building with 14-foot-wide units. But there are many ways to offer boat and RV storage that dont fit that precise mold. Ive seen operators capitalize on RV storage by simply offering outdoor parking in areas they may have intended for facility expansion. Some look to increase the rent for this product by offering covered parking, building canopies at a significantly reduced cost per square foot compared to traditional self-storage or enclosed RV storage.

Ive seen developers plans run the gamut from your basic canopy or roof-only structures to individually climate-controlled units with motor-operated doors and storage mezzanines. Many developers recognize that the target market for a boat/RV storage site is measurably different from that of self-storage. Theyre focusing on the needs of the RV customer by offering wash bays, dump stations, valet service and club-house-type amenities that appeal to his sense of security and accessibility.

As with self-storage, RV/boat storage offers a great opportunity to incorporate solar panels. By nature, this type of development offers a ton of rooftop space, and if youre in the right market, this can also be an ancillary money maker. Some municipalities will buy back excess energy production, and some will let you bank it for future use. If areas where either of these is an option, were seeing an average three- to five-year return on investment with this type of green building.

Whatever the productenclosed, canopy or outdoor parkingthe key to success is always supply and demand. The good news is in most markets, supply has not yet caught up with demand, so there are still some great opportunities for boat/RV storage.

Key Elements of Retail-Store Design
By Nancy Martin Wagner, Vice President of Marketing, Chateau Products Inc., www.chateauproducts.com

When designing your retail area, create a large focal point at eye level. A drywall space that is 8 to 12 feet wide is ideal. Grid wall panels come in sections 2 feet wide and 4 feet high, so even if you have windows between the panels, it will look great. Following are some other design ideas for the space. All of these suggestions can be implemented without spending a lot of capital.

• A combination of bright, indirect sunlight, fluorescent lighting and spot lighting is perfect for showing off products.
• Open floor space in front of the wall display should be approximately 15 to 25 feet deep (about 280 square feet or more) to merchandise stacks of box bundles, bubble rolls and floor gondola fixtures.
• High ceilings are great because they make your space feel big and vast like a warehouse!
• Use hard, non-marking flooring, or consider leaving the floors concrete and apply a glaze treatment.
• Have extra wide or double doors with an easy-access, drive-up loading area so customers can wheel out their purchases and load them into their vehicles.
• The bigger and more open the area, the better.
• Some self-storage operators have converted units at the front of their properties into a retail store by replacing or adding glass store fronts.
• Retain countertop space for lock demonstrators and impulse-buy items. Try to position the managers counter so customers feel like theyre facing the retail area and front door.

Auckland, New Zealand-based Smartbox Mobile Self Storage has just opened its second Australian branch, this one in Melbourne. The first, which is in Sydney, opened three years ago.

Founders Steve and Jonelle Phillips have continued to expand, despite facing many challenges.

After Jonelle and I started on the road, having built the business from nothing, the idea of mobile self-storage caught on pretty quick, and we grew fast, Steve Phillips, a former milkman who started the business six years ago, told the source. When we had established ourselves in Auckland, we decided to look at other potential markets. The nearest markets that made sense for expansion were on the Aussie East Coast, starting with Sydney.

Apart from setting up the bricks and mortar and all the logistical headaches, we faced the challenge of changing the local mindset of people when it came to self-storage. This is something that we still struggle to achieve. When people think of self-storage, they only imagine the traditional way," Phillips said.

With three facilities, Smartbox offers mobile self-storage in the Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney metropolitan areas to residential and commercial customers. A trailer is sent to the customer's premises with an empty container. The customer then fills up the container and locks it. The trailer is then towed back to the facility, where the container is stored until the customer requires access or re-delivery.

SMD Software Inc., provider of SiteLink management software for self-storage and portable-storage operations, has released walk-through reports for smartphone and mobile-device browsers. Self-storage operators using SiteLink Web Edition can now complete walk-through audits and enter unit and tenant updates in real time from an Internet-capable mobile device. The interactive walk-through reports are designed to build on the popularity of real-time online reports.

Interactive reports for smartphones and tablet PCs are a natural part of Web Editions scalability, said Markus Hecker, SiteLinks chief operating officer. Using mobile devices for audits helps operators because they dont have to take notes on paper and enter them in the computer later. Instead, they record changes on mobile devices as they pass by each unit.

SMD was established in 1996. With more than 5,000 installations worldwide, SiteLink Web Edition integrates with platforms such as smartphones, websites, listing services, INSOMNIAC self-storage kiosks, Lead Tracking Solutions and central mail providers. Features include revenue management and integrated customer-relationship management.