Colleen - I agree about the difference between girls and guys, but not able to convert outside units to smaller units - don't have nay left to convert - everything on the outside is rented!! If that was all I had I would be 100% and jacking up the prices! As it is the outside prices will be going up soon.

Stevedore - climate control is not an option for these hallways - the buildings are such that they would have to be completely rebuilt to be climate controled. Good idea though!!

Thank you both for the input.

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Wayne
All American Self Storage
Palmdale, CA.
webmaster@all-americanselfstorage.com

Why not run a "twofer" sale? Anybody that rents an outside unit gets an inside unit for an extra $ 10. a month.Raise your outies rate by $5. and you end up getting the equivalent of $ 15. for the innie.
Billsay

Why not run a "twofer" sale? Rent an outtie and get an innie for $ 10. a month.Raise the rents on the outties by $ 5. and you get the equivalent of $ 10. for the innie.
Billsay

Autodoc:
We have inside units at five out of six of our stores. I have found that the manager's selling technique plays a HUGE part in selling indoor units. Considering that 60% of callers are female, it should be easier to sell clean, clean, clean indoor units. The managers that emphasize the cleanliness and the aspect "it's more like storing your items in a house vs. a garage" are able to sell the inside units for MORE than the drive up ones. I usually don't tell them over the phone that they are inside (unless they are storing a car). Once they get to the property and I show them how clean they are, I rarely hear complaints. If you do, you can always discount

I've heard a manager say "the only downfall to a indoor unit is that you have to walk down a hall." This manager has a VERY, VERY hard time renting indoor units.

If you clean the units, you know first hand how much better they are. Use this knowledge to "upsell" your indoor units. GOOD LUCK

We push the CLEAN for the inside all the time! It works great till the guy shows up and they want an outside unit.

this week has been better (as we are out of drive up units) we've been pushing the smaller units and they are starting to rent. Maybe soon we can be like LisaT and hit 100%

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Wayne
All American Self Storage
Palmdale, CA.
webmaster@all-americanselfstorage.com

Good Luck with the smaller units. We get stuck with a lot of them over the winter. Everybody has way more stuff than what fits in a 5x5. Our newer generation facilities have a lot less small units and are higher priced. We have found that the higher the price, the more likely the small units sell. We are 100% occupied in 5x5s and 5x10s! Our older stores are more like 50% occupied in this size. Go figure. Price it higher and people will pack efficiently.

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Danielle

Hi Wayne,

We have a strategy that will help with this...probably not comletely solve your issue...but definitely help significantly.

If you want it, send my assistant, Pam, a message at info@storagemarketingsolutions.com and we'll get you taken care of.

All you need is the ability to export your tenant database for a mailing.

Derek Naylor
President
Storage Marketing Solutions
http://www.storagemarketingsolutions.com
800.941.4805

I run Manager's Specials on the units that I have the most of. The special is normally $10 cheaper for 3 or 4 months and then we up the price to the standard rate.

I have found that once I get a customer into a storage unit they normally stay about 6 months or more.

I also run specials like 2-5x10's for 1 dollar less then a 10x10 for a certain time, then back to standard rate.

We also price match our competition. "find it cheaper, i'll match it for 6 months."