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

# 3 from Me!

Tenant Insurance.

I've been hearing alot about the devastating fire at a large Georgia facility this past weekend. An interview with one of the tenants breaks my heart. She and her husband had stored all of their belongings in their unit as they prepared to move. They lost everything... no insurance.

We've been presented with a Tenant Insurance program but our owners (admittedly, myself included) are hesitant to implement it. For us it would be great, because we would actually make money on the policies. We've only hesitated in the past because of the added burden of additional monthly costs for our tenants. We were unsure as to whether or not they could afford more money each month. None of our competitors in town require or even offer info regarding tenant insurance.

I'm now thinking about this differently and plan to approach our owners again. Sure, it makes money for us, but I'm really also thinking about the look on that woman's face earlier in the interview. I can't for the life of me imagine calling one of my tenants and giving them that bad news. I'd rather be able to remind them about the wonderful insurance they had purchased instead!

I believe the source of all revenue is the Quality of Product and Service. Therefore, I have been looking at ways to increase revenue through Great customer service: make it easy to pay, education of auctions and information given, etc.

Since the Storage Wars has become such a phenomena in the storage business - a marketing fundraiser, revenue producer and exposure event might be:

Mover's Wars (everyone loves a challenge)

Mover's Wars would be designed to: show case the local moving companies (much like the grocery stores packer competition), create alliances and market the storage facility. If marketed well - the event could become annual or national in scope.

A storage company puts together multiple items that moving companies compete to pack into a storage unit. The object is to load the goods into a storage space utilizing the smallest amount of space efficiently, safely and quickly. This activity will generate greater exposure to your storage facility, moving companies and to the local market - while assuring a marketable value and alliance for your customers.

Each set of items to be packed should contain goods of multiple size which could be contents from the following list: freezer, refrigerator, washer, dryer, tables and chairs, sofas and love seats, bedroom suites, lawn care items, exercise and sporting goods and tools, as well as multiple boxed and loose items in a variety of shapes and sized. Each set of goods should require the same amount of space to store. The number of companies competing would depend on the number of companies willing compete to prove they are the best!

Each participant is given an inventory of the items they ill need to pack into the storage unit. Each company will discern the size they feel is appropriate. The goods to be stored will be located at a staging area. Each team of movers will be assigned to a time and judge who will remain with them for the duration of the competition to rate the efficiency of the team and the safety of their packaging as well as speed. Each team enters their selection of unit size and timing begins for each team individually when their moves load their first item into their truck and finishes when the lock is placed on the unit.

The entry fee per company team would be $50.00. Each company team would consist of no more than three individuals per team. Each team member would be provided with water or (gatorade/powerade/vitamin water - depending on the sponsor) throughout the event. Also they will receive the Safest and Most Efficient Mover's award and retain that title for a year. Finally, they would be listed as the preferred movers on the storage social media websites for the year (free advertising - a win win).

Attendees to the event would pay $4.00 per ticket which would include the staging area, parking, and a hot dog and beverage as well as an entry for a free storage unit. Audience participation will also pay a role in the final outcome as they will enter a choice for the best mover. Those correct entries will be placed into a drawing for $100 in free moving supplies.

Second idea: I have often witnessed families coming into town after parents have suffered a debilitating illness trying to shore up all loose ends after having to place them in a senior center, rehab, nursing home or deal with their demise. My thought is to align our facility with senior centers, rehab centers and nursing homes to assist the families of customers who wind up needing their services and perhaps they will need ours. Maybe they need to store furniture to stage a house, or perhaps their family member now temporarily needs a piece of medical equipment taking the place of other furnishings their family member in not willing to part with. So I plan to visit these types of facilities and drop off Alliance cards to encourage their customers to rent from us, make alliances and broaden our exposure to various business that their customer could benefit from our services.

Last but not least:

Great customer service makes storage and the services the storage company provides turn key. That being said - a shredding day might effectuate a wait - something many of our customers don't have time for. We would provide shredding service at set rate per 12x12x16 box (box included in the price) which could be paid for when boxes were picked up in the office or the day of the event. Boxes would be dropped off in a unit (drive thru) and a ticket given for the number of boxes to shred and to be paid for upon exit if not already prepaid. This method gives and exact tally to provide the shredding company with. Shredding companies charge a fee to come out to shred and the fee generally includes a specific number of boxes. Therefore, the customer drops off the box to be shredded in the unit in the morning and the truck shreds all in the afternoon. Keeping in mind all storage facilities generally have 12 or more boxes of records they must shred each year this makes disposal easy and pays attention to security of disposal. Further - notice to attorneys, accountants and medical facilities which are currently customers can arrange for shredding of their records and benefit from a reduction of time required by their staff for oversight of record destruction. It creates a revenue stream and win win for all. If this service was provided at the end of a month it would encourage customers to kill two birds with one stone - paying for the shredding (a box included in the shred per box price) and their rent since they are there. Depending again on the marketing this event could be a once or twice a year event with the purchase of the box per shredding done throughout the year. Further it would give another marketing angle to professionals that they could also take part in this event and building a rapport with them that could exceed beyond shredding to include rental of a unit.

Good luck to all taking part in this event and thanks for the opportunity to expound on my ideas.

Idea # 2 :


I am currently running a facility that is just over a year old so we are still filling this place up. To do that we've had to think outside the box and be a little more creative to get our name out there and attract new business.

One of the idea's we are currently mulling over is creating either a small newsletter or a coupon flyer that would showcase the business tenants that currently rent with us. Inclusion in the flyer/letter would be optional and could either be given to the tenant as an incentive to rent with us (i.e. "Free advertising with every rental!") or it could be used as a source of income generation by charging each tenant a fee to be included. The newsletters/flyers could be taken to all the local surrounding businesses, mailed out with every correspondance done from the facility, sent via email, and put on the counter in the facility office. Each business tenant included in the printing could also take some to their place of business as well.

Depending on the cost of printing, the newsletter or flyer could be done in color and have an area to showcase one specific tenant each month as well as an area for all the other businesses to have a small ad or coupon. It would be up to the tenants to provide the facility manager with their business information and/or a graphics to put in their ads. If needed the tenant could update their ad each time a printing is done.

Along with the coupons you could use the newsletter to include special announcements for all tenants who request it --- Marriages, births, anniversaries, birthdays, etc, etc. This helps to create a sense of community among your tenants and I believe a stronger loyalty as well.

Anyone with even minimal computer experience should be able to accomplish putting together the newsletter/flyer by using an editing program like Word or one of the many free programs available online. It may take some playing around with, but it should be very possible for almost anyone to create.

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By the way, Thank you so much for the opportunity to enter the contest. Good luck everyone!

Here are 3 ideas for the contest:
1. "take this stuff and shelf it." Offer a shelf unit to the prospective tenant at no extra charge. This would allow the tenant to store more items in the space, get things off the ground, and promote good organization. The shelf units would remain the property of the facility, and when the tenant moves out, the shelf unit could be used again. Good incentive for the well organized.
2. "take a load off, granny." Offer a free unloading service, especially in your advertising, as this would open the opportunity for potential customers without the ability or interest in unloading. Offer this service by appointment, with the necessary disclaimers and assurances. Advertise the service to nursing homes, assisted living facilities, beauty and nail shops, church groups, and divorce attorneys. Takes the "pain" out of moving in.
3. "they paint runways, don't they?" The facility where I work is located in the flight path of a local small airport. Most of the air traffic is fairly low overhead, and visibility of the property is very good, I'm told. We also have very large concrete paved aisles, which are about 25 feet wide.
Having had some experience in concrete painting, I know that it would be possible to paint the name of the facility (billboard size or bigger) on the concrete, as long as the surface is properly prepared and the proper epoxy based paint is used. There are companies that specialize in this service, especially in mobile home parks in this part of the country. Might even be able to offer other ad space for roofers, plumbers etc. Increased visibility from the air!
What do you think?
Jim Lauer
Oxford Storage, Fern Park Florida

My method of raising exposure and thereby revenue is fairly simple, join a local Realtors association as an Affiliate Member. The initial cost is reasonable (about $198.00 per year with prorated dues if you join later in the year).
Affiliate membership in our local association, SMDRA (South Metro Denver Realtors Assn.) provides an opportunity to network with literally thousands of realtors and affiliate members to promote our various facilities and services.
Thier list of affiliates includes every area of home services from Appraisers to Web Design and everything in between (including moving, relocation and storage).
Membership at our local Affiliates Program includes marketing opportunities including "No Cost" advertising on the "Affiliate Wall"(promotions,specials, etc.), discounted advertising in the realtor trade magazine "The Resource" and access to a weekly realtor marketing session to promote our facilities.
There is also the opportunity to sponsor "Contests" for the realtors to promote our facilities to thier clients (referral contests, etc.).
Rubbing elbows and sharing a donut and a cup of coffee can go a long way in any business and ours is no exception. Our facility has 769 units and is currently at 92.6% occupancy and I know that our Affiliate Membership with SMDRA is part of the reason.

3. "they paint runways, don't they?" The facility where I work is located in the flight path of a local small airport. Most of the air traffic is fairly low overhead, and visibility of the property is very good, I'm told. We also have very large concrete paved aisles, which are about 25 feet wide.
Having had some experience in concrete painting, I know that it would be possible to paint the name of the facility (billboard size or bigger) on the concrete, as long as the surface is properly prepared and the proper epoxy based paint is used. There are companies that specialize in this service, especially in mobile home parks in this part of the country. Might even be able to offer other ad space for roofers, plumbers etc. Increased visibility from the air!

I really like this idea!

Ok according to the rules of the contest, these ideas have to be new and not implemented yet, correct? With that in mind here is my third idea:
Have a contest with the prize being 6 months FREE rent. Every new tenant and all old tenants who make a payment are eligible to win. That way your bread and butter tenants will not get upset. 1 entry per customer. I think you will have to let the eligibility be for a couple months (that way you can get some steady payers who pay 2 months at a time). Have lots of publicity through the internet, facebook, website etc. and state the time and day that the drawing will take place. Have all of the entries in a sealed box and a neutral person should pull the winning slip out. That way you could get people to the site and they may bring some friends along. Refreshments could be available and would not cost much. The cost of the promotion is minimal and the exposure and good thoughts would be great. Good luck to all who entered. Sheryll VIP Self Storage, El Cajon, CA

Wow - what a great contest! There are not going to be just two winners - we are all going to be winners with all these great ideas we can implement! Thank you! Here are my ideas:
1. Instead of just wearing your uniform shirt while marketing or doing errands, I would like to see our company get some t-shirts made in our company colors with the following on the shirts: Front side: "You Need Space!" (in very BIG letters and of course an exclamation point at the end of the statement). Back side: Have a bulleted list educating consumers why they need to use self storage, such as reclaiming their garage for their car, decluttering to sell their house, etc. I would include our logo on the shirt along with our tag line. We could make a real "splash" in our communities with these shirts and be walking billboards for our business and this would all be done for a low cost, but the potential for many prospective customers.
2. Create a "First Open Box" for customers to purchase that are in the process of moving. The box would include items that may be hard to find in the chaos of moving - flashlight, paper, pens, toliet paper, paper plates, small tools, snacks, and water. The items could be purchased inexpensively at the dollar store and sold for double the price of the items. It would not only be a money maker, but a good gesture showing that we care to make their transition a smooth one. We could put referral information in the box and put logo stickers on the outside of the box to easily identify where the nifty little box came from. This would create ongoing marketing opportunities when the box was left in the house for all to see!
3. Create short videos for prospective customers to view after they have rented their storage space. The videos should be short and catchy and on the funny side. They could include a "live" version of our company's "Helpful Hints" and how to fill your storage space in an organized manner so that you may easily find items when needed. (Have you watched "Storage Wars" and seen how people just throw their items into their spaces? It makes me shudder!) These videos could be created at a low cost using high school drama students who would just love to get some experience. And, you can use a dedicated computer that you may be using for customers to use your Free Wifi or to set up their online accounts. Again, it is an effort to show that we want to make their storage experience one that is "unforgettable" and one that they will rave about to all their friends!

See all you creative marketers in Las Vegas!

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Deadline has come and gone. Great job everyone! I love the ideas. The judges are deliberating, and an announcement will be made soon.

Thanks again!