Just opened up a new building and was wondering what type of rent giveaways you may have given to get your buildings occupied? Especially not to upset some of my current customers if there is some type of rent holiday. Any thoughts?

What we have found is by giving a "grand opening special" you will get a lot of new tenets, but within 3 months the majority of them will be in lien!

One of our competitors expanded a few months ago and had a grand opening sale -- rented like 90 units in one day!!! Three months later and 70 of them were going up for auction! Not the best idea they had -- I would not do it again as we had the same results a few years ago.

It's tough to get your name out there, but it's better to be at 50% with good tenets then it is to be at 75% today and 40% in three months.

Imagine what it was like to auction 70 units off!!! That would suck.

OneStopStorage

I agree with the comments about giving away rents at the beginning. Do an auction with 70 units would be the worst!

I have a few clients that give their new customers an equivalent value to moving supplies to the cost of a full month's rent. If you are renting that 10 x 15 for $150, the customer gets $150 in boxes, tape, etc. Sometimes people spend more than you give them, but many times less. So instead of giving away $150 in future rental income, you are giving away the wholesale cost of your products, but the customer is getting the retail value. They are also walking away with something tangible from the transaction. Just one idea.

MisterJim444

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Learning Never Ends

Our free rent give away works like this. We operate on a first of the month basis. As most of you, we give pay coupons with lease signing. We have a flyer in the office and give it as part of our lease packet stating that as long as the rent is paid on or before the first and is accompanied by the payment coupon (no exceptions), we place the coupon in a box and draw out a name every 4 months and give that person their next month's rent free. We automatically make coupons for those who are either pay aheads or Auto credit card customers. The dates of the drawing are posted in the flyer. Also is a statement that date of check nor postmark constitutes payment date; we are not responsible for lost or misdirected mail and coupon MUST accompany payment. It works very well, people like it and it helped in decreasing our outstanding receivables. When we pick the name, we start over and post a flyer in the office with the winners FIRST name only and the unit number.

The only free rent we give is with pre pay. We have 12% at prepay and we are at 94%occupancy. With our new climate control building we are giving free tap lights and 10% off monthly rent for one year.

The only rent I giveaway is the world famous $1 Move-In. That's only because all of our competitors do it, so we kinda have to.

I suggest the merchandise giveaway, not rent. Sure it cuts down the profit margin on the items, but it makes your sales team/skills come to light when you go for the add-on sales. So when your customer goes to reach for the free merchandise giveaways, let your sales "upsell" begin. There is where you'll break even with your new rental.

If you still think giving away rent is the best option for you, I STRONGLY suggest keeping up with the delinquency calls! I inherited a store with high liens and late fees. What I did to combat this was have a person committed to going through the late pays DAILY. If you can't afford to do this with your current staff, hire an outside office worker, give them a phone and hand them the late pay list. You'll be surprised at how much money will start to come in with a simple courtesy call. You can write this expense off at year's end.

Never be afraid to let customers go...if your store is at its best, consistent marketing can bring in NEW customers.

My company just open it's newest location last Jan. We have done fairly good with the rent up. Looking at 45% occupied today (over 700 units) w/ 3% delinqency at the end of each month. Honestly we tried the $1.00 move in only cause our neighboors were doing it. To be honest...It did no good to us. When then went to 1/2 off first 3 month and it took off like wild flowers. We have used that as our main way of getting people in. But have also used other avenues such as post cards that offer 1/2 first month, door hangers that state call us for Move In Specials. At easter we have the plastic eggs and all new customers get an offer in there. (Which we have anything from % of boxes or an amount of free boxes to free rent.) But most of all I have found the simple things of giving a coupon of any form to someone makes them think they are getting something for nothing. Everybody wants something free even if it s mug with your logo on it. As we have welcome bags that include a ref card of 25.00 to current customer and whom ever they ref to any of our locations, post-it, pens, mug, and candy from one of our local vendors.

Sorry So Long

Good Luck !!!
Susan