By
Drew Case
Storage Authority Franchise
You are an owner of self-storage and you need to know what to review upon visiting your own location. Your manager is assigned to operate the facility and manage any team members or you may have chosen to use a management team. You want to ensure the place is operating efficiently and in top condition. What should you do or review when you visit the facility? Your focus may change upon each visit depending on time or your desired goals upon each visit. Most visits will include some common items.
Here are a few tips for what to review when you visit your own location:
Park across the street and review the facility and view through the eyes of a customer. What are customers seeing and how can you improve what they see? Over time, you will become desensitized to seeing anything new and you need to visualize your location from a different perspective. Customers will also experience the same desensitization. Invite your manager to do the same thing with you and ask them what they see. Landscaping, perimeter fence, lighting, signage and more. What can you add or tune-up that a customer will notice at a first glance?
"Summary Report" will have a variety if information such as, Occupancy, Delinquency, Rooms Rented Over Prior Year/Month. It is a general report card of various aspects o the facility. Depending on your management program, this report could be named a variety of titles. Look for a delinquency in a 3-5% range and desire an increasing occupancy. New facilities goal is to show a monthly gain in occupancy. Also review percentage of customer enrolled tenant insurance and utilizing automatic payment . The higher the percentage, the better.
Collection calls and delinquency review. There are a number of automated programs for collections. However, calling a delinquent customer is always important. Your manager should have made attempts to reach the customer to collect the rent and also avoid a future auction. Make sure they have tried to contact via email and also phone to make ever effort to reach the customer. Customers may have a circumstance causing the delinquency and as an owner/manager, its best to understand the situation and see how you can work with the customer.
Site-walk will reveal a number of aspects. Walk your entire facility as an owner. Keep your head on a swivel and you will notice a variety of things that may require attention. Have a scanner or a printed rent roll to verify your manager is changing locks in a timely manner. Are delinquent customers locked out and do current customers have their overlock removed? While walking around, look for damage to walls or gutters, roof/ceiling leaks, damaged lock hasps, door damage or decals and signs missing. Ensure doors have pull ropes and good seals, fire extinguishers are in place and there is no trash in the aisles. Open at least two vacant units and see i they ready for the next customer. Noticing these issues prevents small issues from becoming larger ones and also identifies needed repairs to keep your facility top-notch and appearing new.
Tech review may include reviews of any recorded calls, web-site analytics or saved leads that are due for a callback. Again, there are numbers of providers that provide reports on these aspects and the organization of this information and reports may vary. Pull up online (Google) reviews and see what opportunities exist and thank your manager for doing a great job on the positive reviews. Also, ensure your video camera system is functioning properly and all cameras are recording.
Finally, sit down with your manager in the showroom/office area and discuss the variety of notes you have taken and set goals together to agree upon shared goals. Ask them how they are marketing within the local community. Review various aspects you deem a priority. Don't just tell your manager what to do, ask them how you can better help them and genuinely address a need they may have expressed to you. Schedule some repairs together and make time to listen and motivate your manager. As an owner, you have your own busy schedule, but be sure to make time to motivate upon every visit and you will be more likely to have a positive result.
Every visit is an opportunity to motivate your manager and improve your facility. Competition is always improving and becoming more prevalent. Making repairs, adjustments an improvements will ensure you remain competitive and valid choice for a potential customer to utilize your facility for their self-storage needs. A review such as this could be done on a monthly basis or target various aspects on this list more often for an even quicker visit.
Blog on Management Team vs Manager:
Storage Authority's guidance in self-storage development underscores the intricate balance between meeting storage demands and environmental sustainability. By aligning with Storage Authority's principles and leveraging our team's expertise, along with your engineer, architect, and general contractor we can navigate the complexities of impervious coverage with confidence, ensuring the creation of self-storage facilities that are both economically viable and environmentally responsible.
Storage Authority Franchising is all about owning your own local self-storage business, supported by professional systems and expertise. We like to say, "You're in business for yourself but not by yourself." If self-storage is on your mind, don't hesitate to reach out to Drew Case at Direct: 513-582-0125 or Drew@StorageAuthority.com to learn more about the Storage Authority Franchise opportunity. Your self-storage journey awaits!
If you would like to learn more and start your journey to self-storage ownership click the link here:
                         http://www.storageauthorityfranchise.com/opportunity2
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