Thread: Loving Las Vegas Contest: Managers, Win a Free Trip to the ISS Expo!

Here goes...

1. Advertise on the reader board a “Happy Hour”:
Wednesdays, 4-6pm all available units half off first month!

2. Storage Supplies “Dollar Menu”:
Recycled Boxes $1 (100% profit)
Packing Tape $1 (31% profit)
Box Knife $1 (81% profit)
also a good way to get “sleepers out of inventory” (example; old labels etc.)

3. Add to inventory clothing with logo:
A great way to get your name out there!
Human billboards!
also a nice “thank you” to long term tenants.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Originally Posted by Penelope

Here goes...

1. Advertise on the reader board a “Happy Hour”:
Wednesdays, 4-6pm all available units half off first month!

2. Storage Supplies “Dollar Menu”:
Recycled Boxes $1 (100% profit)
Packing Tape $1 (31% profit)
Box Knife $1 (81% profit)
also a good way to get “sleepers out of inventory” (example; old labels etc.)

3. Add to inventory clothing with logo:
A great way to get your name out there!
Human billboards!
also a nice “thank you” to long term tenants.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Hey...I like your Number #2!!! On your marquee:

Check out Our Dollar Menu!! ($1 first month rent any size unit)

A resource I would really like to explore is partnering with local Real Estate Agents. This could be beneficial in several different ways. Many of the nearby upscale subdivisions have very strict HOA laws that do not allow home storage of boats, RV’s, or trailers. Some communities also do not allow motorcycles to even be ridden in the neighborhood, let alone stored at home. I know from my background in the home sales industry that sales are being lost when prospective buyers discover these by-laws, but if the sales agent has a solution readily available it can help clinch a sale.

70% of our business is storing these “big boy toys.” If sales agents had flyers with our location and pricing, it could potentially drive a great deal more business in our direction, and get them more signed contracts.

Also, real estate agents all know the pain of trying to schedule closing dates, especially in new home sales, when a week of rain can drastically change the completion date. Unfortunately the buyer often is left with a gap between closings on their old home and new one. I know the homebuilder I worked for sometimes brokered deals with customers to pay for a hotel and storage facility for their belongings for a week or so if deadlines were missed. I imagine now, with new home sales at such a low point, they’re even more desperate to keep a customer from walking away from a contract.

Real estate agents offering more budget priced housing often lose customers when they realize how little storage space is available in the tiny homes. They could be ready to whip out info on how much the customer would save on monthly house payments even with paying to store things here they might usually have in a basement.

I would like to convince the owner of my facility to let me meet with local agents, offering at least a reciprocal advertising plan- we put up flyers for their community on our bulletin board, they have flyers for our business available for customers with various storage needs. Ideally, I would like to offer the agents incentives such as special pricing for contract delay needs, or give them a gift or monetary incentive for recommending us.

Idea 1:
Our owner came up with this one, and as soon as our occupancy drops below 90% again, we will be implementing the following.

We are surrounded by apartment complexes and retirement living. His plan is to take flyers with business cards to each location along with $10 gift cards for nearby restaurants to the managers/sales associates at each facility. We give each of them a gift card to start to show our level of seriousness and arrange with them that for every customer they send to us that rents a unit, we will reward that individual with a $10 gift card of their choosing.

At the same time, we can have flyers for their apartments to show our renters, so we are cross-marketing. Everyone wins!

April - VIP Self Storage

Originally Posted by penelope

here goes...

1. Advertise on the reader board a “happy hour”:
Wednesdays, 4-6pm all available units half off first month!

I love this!!!!!!

1. I’d like to form partnerships with the local HOA’s so we can become the only company they refer people to if possible. We already have a referral program in place here where we reward tenants and companies that send us referrals, but I’d like to personalize this for the HOA’s and print up individual coupons for each of them to hand out to homes that maybe have a bit too much clutter around the property. On the coupon it could be good for our move in special on most units ($29), and would have a space for the agent of the HOA to sign their name so we would know who to send the referral fee to. So if the referral fee is say $50, and the $29 special costs us say $70 in rent and a free lock, but the average tenant stay is a year, so if they rent a $100 unit that’s $1200, minus the $50 acquisition fee, $75 in incentives if you include the cost of the lock, and let’s say $1 cost for the coupon, which would leave us with $1074 in income on a unit renting at $100 for the year. I know every rental doesn’t stay for a year, some stay a month and some stay several years, but this is a good generic average.
2. This one might not be so popular, but start charging for additional services if you don’t already. Charge for invoicing, even if it’s only $.50, when you have 500 tenants that’s $250 a month you would be saving just in having them pay for their own postage if they want to receive a monthly invoice in the mail.(no charge for email invoice). Charge for fax/copy services, we pay for the toner and paper, and that adds up. Charge for package delivery acceptance on a monthly basis, so make it an extra $5 or $10 per month to accept packages for tenants since we are taking extra time out of our day to sign for and deliver packages to their units. The local post office charges $35 a month for a 22x12 inch PO box, and many of us give away this valuable service for free. Start locking up and renting out any moving equipment you offer to customers. Furniture carts, dollies, furniture pads, etc, people pay to rent these from uhaul, so why not rent them out at your facility and make money on them, especially if you already have them? In my 2 1/2 years in the industry, I've learned that for facility owners and management companies with multiple properties, the extra $200-500 per month per property can really add up because in this industry every dollar counts.
3. I’m still thinking on this one… everything else I wanted to suggest has been taken but I’ll brainstorm and get back to it

Revenure-producing, for self storage means renting units, and for older, out-of-the-way self storage facilities, new tenants is often a major problem. One way to bring in new tenants and possibly fill a facility, a way that our facility currently does not utilize, is to start a Flea Market in your facility, especially older facilities.

Start with 20 - 30 units that are grouped closely together and begin advertising in local craft and antique magazines. You can also contact existing Flea Markets and start a partnership with them so that you get instant notice. Another way to advertise is to print flyers and hand deliver them to sellers at local Flea Markets in your area. Then rent your units to tenants who want to sell their items in your Flea Market. Flea Market hours of opperation will vary, but Saturday and possibly Sunday is enough.

To begin, allow and advertise FREE parking for your tenant's customers. You can even rent space to a food vendor, which will also bring in more income.

Through the week, the Flea Market tenants simply lock their units, just like any other tenant. On Saturdays, they open the door and sell their antiques, crafts, or whatever.

Charge your normal price for a unit at first, but if you advertise enough, your Flea Market will be successful, and you may be able to raise rent for Flea Market tenants. You may even be able to add an "adverising cost" to your rent just like an antique mall does. The remainder of your facility remains a standard self storage facility. You will a public restroom outside of your office area and electrical service in several or all of the Flea Market units, but this service can be added over time and you can charge more for units with electricity.

As buyers visit your facility to shop the Flea Market area, you can have your tenants slip a flyer into every bag, advertising both your self storage facility and your Flea Market--something for the buyers to think about and remember when they get home. You might even give all buyers a discount coupon, but I think that in a very short time, you will not need to discount space. In your tenant contracts, either address the issue of selling from the unit yourself or have an attorney look at the contract. Keep the rules simple and keep the liability on the tenant. Also make the tenant totally responsible for clean up around his/her unit. A small deposit for these units may be in order, which, if you have to keep it for clean up, is another source of income. You will probably need additional insurance for the buyers who visit your facility, but maybe not--check with your insurance agent. Don't forget to have vending machines selling soft drinks and snacks. Keep these locked inside your facility and set up the contracts with Coca-Cola or other distributors. Food and drinks always sell and offer a wonderful source of additional income.

Finally, have fun. Self storage is a fun business, flea markets are exception fun, and earning additional revenue while you have fun is juct icing on the cake.

We have four locations in the Atlanta area and I want to have a motorcycle Poker Run. A poker run is an excuse to meet up, travel, and have a good time at the stops en route, which will be our four Atlanta area locations.

Participants meet at a pre-arranged point, (our first location) and pick up details of their route and the stops they need to make.The organizers raise their funds by charging a set amount to participate. Each participant is given a score card which will be filled in as they progress along the route. The winner of the event is the participant who makes the best five card poker hand at the end of the event. The event will end at our last location which is located on a major interstate in downtown Atlanta.

There will be entertainment at the designated "last stop" of the route, along with the awarding of prizes. The organizers raise their funds by charging a set amount to participate, therefore we will provide our large parking lots and some prizes. I will be marketing beforehand at several places and ask for new prize items as a donation for this worthy cause.

We already provide free storage to the Gwinnett Master Special Olympics and
they think this would be a great idea. The local Harley Clubs and The Special Olympics have these events often and will take care of the advertising, food, & entertainment. We will provide big parking lots and several donated prizes. Everyone stops and looks when they see hundreds of Harley's. They will also be seeing our beautiful facilities.

What a great way to bring many people into our Atlanta self storage facilities, generate some great leads, raise money for the Special Olympics, and have fun at the same time!
PS: Pictures to come!

Joan Matheny, Manager
Climatized Self Storage
875 Marathon Parkway
Lawrenceville, GA 30046

Don't offer discounts if you want to increase revenue. I owned several antique related newspapers before becoming a self storage manager, and the man who taught me the desktop publishing business offered this sound piece of advice on my first day of training: "NEVER discount an ad. If you want to give a free ad to someone, then give them a free ad, but if you discount an ad, then you have just established what the ad is truly worth." This same philosophy applies to self storage units. If you give a free unit to someone, when the free period is over (usually one month), the rent reverts to the full price since the full rental price is what the unit is worth. However, if you discount the price of the unit, say from $60 per month to $45 per month, then you establish that the unit is only worth $45 a month. Tenants talk and share pricing information, so if you discount your units, expect new tenants to want the same discount. In fact, giving a discount off of a normally advertised price to one tenant but refusing it to another might be excellent grounds for a Civil Rights violation law suit. So, if you want to increase your revenue, don't rely on quick gimmics such as discounts. Justify the full price by giving superior customer service. You'll quickly discover that more people are interested in outstanding customer service than they are in a few dollars off the rent. You facility willl be fuller, and all of your units will be rented at full price. Don't lower what your units are worth--keep the price firm.

Turning unused space into revenue

1.> If you have a large office turns half into rentable space. Build yourself 2x4x4 units or purchase and paint old school lockers advertise them as high security unit’s access during office hours only. You would be surprised how much stuff one a fit into a 2x4x4. Another wasted space depending how your facility is set up is above your existing units. Build platform areas and rent it to those who have items that are shaped odd and will not fit into any of your standard size unit.


2.> If there is a university close by calls their ad agencies and put an ad in their paper or advertises during their sports events. Find out when they are getting out for the summer and/or go abroad. Ask if you can take flyers over to be distributed to every dorm/ bulletin board on campus. If you have small units and can’t seem to keep them rented advertise those as student dorm units on your flyers offer a free lock. Where I was working we had built 3 ½ x4x5 ½ size units just for students mostly the Stanford students. We kept the units occupied all year round once the word got out year after year they would come to us to store their stuff for the summer. The units were kept up on our third level we would bring them down for move in. After they were done moving in we would put the units back up. They had to call us 24 hours in advance when they needed them down to access or move out. It was a great set up and worked out great for both the student and us.