Multiple locations in same town

[Vtselfstorage]

I'm in the process of adding a 2nd facility in the same town and wondering what issues I can expect to have with people going to the wrong facility, and how to limit this. On top of it the locations will be on the same road, about 1/2 mile apart.

I've considered naming this facility differently, however I have good web presence and an established following and reputation that I'd rather not start over from scratch.

Any insight on having multiple locations in the same town and how to avoid confusion of location with tenants would be greatly appreciated.

PS: All of my facilities are run remotely via kiosk so no staff is onsite to assist.

[BusyProperties]

We have two facilities in the same town but not on the same road. We "named" the second one according to the road it is on which is obviously something you may not be able to do. We also have the coordinating letters in our unit #'s so "S001" or "E001" -- all of our contact has the unit number and location reference in it. As to starting from scratch, we have what you would consider an umbrella business name and use the location names for most of what we do. I don't have too many issues with people going to the wrong one once the reminder is given from the start. Good luck!!

[lady5563]

I have a competitor who has several locations in the same town and the next town over.

He is called Store and Lock 1
Store and Lock 2
Store and Lock 3

[KrisinCali]

I'm senior manager for 2 facilities, one block apart. We call one using the town name, the second one using the street it's on in the name. It doesn't matter, we get people going to or calling the wrong facility all of the time. Just roll with it. I get calls for Public Storage all of the time, and we don't even have one in town nor are we part of PS.

[MamaDuke]

I used to manage 2 properties 1/2 mile apart on the same side of the same street with the same names. It was a HUGE issue with people going to the wrong one...even after renting! If you want to keep the same name for the web presence angle, just know it will be an ongoing hassle.

[Vtselfstorage]

Thanks everyone for their ideas.

As a 100% self-service via kiosk operation I expect 90% of the people to not have a problem with finding thier unit after the rental, but it's the initial "finding" of the facility that I worry most about.

I don't currently offer online leases, but I would like to make this an option soon, I can see this causing more headaches with finding the correct facility too...

[KrisinCali]

Thanks everyone for their ideas.

As a 100% self-service via kiosk operation I expect 90% of the people to not have a problem with finding thier unit after the rental, but it's the initial "finding" of the facility that I worry most about.

This new facility will be Blogs on the same road, however location#1 is in a different town so that helps greatly. With location Forum and Blogs a half mile apart in the same town on the same road is going to be my main problem.

I don't currently offer online leases, but I would like to make this an option soon, I can see this causing more headaches with finding the correct facility too...

You could call it Self Storage number 1 and Self Storage number two (or to avoid potty jokes, number 4 and Self Storage number 5 to differentiate visually)

[Dave Scott]

I have 3 on the same road, we go by the address of each location and land marks. We have very little problems

[lady5563]

I would bet dollars to donuts your biggest issue will be those that rent online and not having to come to the property BEFORE they rent.
They will rent online for property A and YUP they will arrive at property B and will try their code no less than 52X at the keypad!
They will cuss you out in the morning.
So please make sure to add in the biggest font and red in color on any and all correspondence to remind your tenants TO PAY ATTENTION TO WHICH IS YOUR STUFF LOCATED AT.

[BusyProperties]

Thanks everyone for their ideas.

As a 100% self-service via kiosk operation I expect 90% of the people to not have a problem with finding thier unit after the rental, but it's the initial "finding" of the facility that I worry most about.

I don't currently offer online leases, but I would like to make this an option soon, I can see this causing more headaches with finding the correct facility too...

Do you use the SMS option in Sitelink? If so you can set up an activity to trigger a text message to go out x amount of days after move in to remind them of the exact location.

[helenatim]

We have three facilities run remotely in the same town. All named the same with East, West and North to tell them apart. Never have any trouble with tenants who rent online because the website clearly denotes the locations. Only trouble seems to be the occasional moving company coming to the wrong facility because the tenant hasn't bothered to tell them where to go.
I would keep the same name for sure.

[Vtselfstorage]

BusyProperties I just recently added SMS through SMS Resources to my Sitelink account, could you point me in the right directions on how to set up the automatic text you referenced? appreciate it

[Vtselfstorage]

helenatim I'm with you and plan to keep the name the same for all three. I'll have to give some more thought to how to better differentiate between the facilities other than just the street address.

[Vtselfstorage]

lady5563 I agree that the bulk of my issues with the multiple locations will be from the online rentals not paying attention to the address of the facility.

[helenatim]

[QUOTE=Vtselfstorage;n214493]BusyProperties I just recently added SMS through SMS Resources to my Sitelink account, could you point me in the right directions on how to set up the automatic text you referenced? appreciate it [/QUOTE

I also just added SMS Resources to my SL. It's been very useful so far. It takes a little effort to create abbreviated messages for texting compared to sending full-length emails, but it has lead to some responses from that I was not getting from email.
When new tenants rent online from me, I immediately send a Welcome text with the facility location, their unit number and an updated gate code. This text is often the ONLY communication I have with tenants until they move out, so I prefer to make it a personal one. Tenants seem to appreciate it. But I think you could setup a generic text thru SL that would go out automatically on the day they move in.