Find Reliable Information About The Self Storing Industry

If you are looking out for a resource that could provide you in-depth reliable information about various aspects of the self storing industry, you should look no further than purchasing the self storeroom almanac. The Mini-Storage Messenger magazine published the first edition of this almanac in the year 1992. With the rapidly increasing popularity of self storeplace facilities, the need for an all inclusive reference guide about the industry with statistical details was also felt heavily. This is where the Mini-Storage Messenger magazine’s almanac about the self store room industry emerged as the best resource. At present, storeroom industry almanac is the most powerful tool for self-storing franchise owners, real estate brokers, financial institutions, store place business operators, developers, Investors, and related professionals. They all turn to this almanac when they need some information about the various factors associated with the self storing industry.        

Store room almanac is an unparalleled source of information, as it includes statistical data and analysis by respected and reliable industry professionals and Mini-Storage Messenger magazine editors who have a wide range of experience and understanding of the storing business.  This resource can help you take the right and informed decision about all aspects of your business such as marketing, financing, purchasing, expansion, construction, design, valuation, and others. The guide covers all the topics in great detail, such as construction costs, seasonal occupancy variance, loan and investment analysis for self storing franchises and operations, a demand analysis and supply index, CAP rates, manager training and compensation, rent up issues, population mobility, store room company crime and security issues, facility management factors, facility occupancy and rental rates. It also covers topics related to climate-controlled store place options and those that have multi-level facilities.  The Almanac also profiles top professionals and owners of self store room businesses.

In todays storing market which is witnessing rapid changes, it is very important for you to be informed about what is happening in the industry. The industry has gown through a complete change in the last couple of decades. Today, store place business has turned is a much professionally managed and operated business which is far beyond the imagination and expectation of doyens who pioneered this business. All the 150 pages of The Self Storage Almanac
are packed with latest information, must know facts and easily understandable statistics and analytical facts about the storing industry which you not only can read but also use to enhance your store room business.

Overall, whether you are a property management company, investor, or developer, if you are interested in owning a store place facility or business, make sure that you have complete information about the rates, discount offers, special offers, kind of services, and other current trends in the industry. You can find all this information in the industry almanac, which is undoubtedly the industry’s most complete statistical reference guide.

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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Self Storage in Florida
4920 NW 7th Street
Miami, FL 33126
Ph:(305) 446-1887
Fax:(305) 446-1818

Need a place to park your car? Call Olga today to rent a parking space.

Total Quality Assurance Services Quality Assurance Testing

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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Up until the 10th of June, demand was fairly brisk, exceeding projections on two key days…both of the first two Fridays of June.

Monday and Tuesday the 12th and 13th were busy enough in volume, but the rental demand was not urgent. We were getting a lot of calls for August already.

The rest of the days of the 13th through 18th were disappointing for both volume and the urgency of demand.

This should be just the calm before the storm. If this year mirrors last year, the end of this week will be very busy and next week will be like a whole week that acts like the couple of days after Memorial Day.

We do not know whether the weak demand last week can be attributed to any change in “the market” or a change in consumer behavior.

Monday the 19th had good call volume and reservation activity. This is good news.

If Thursday and Friday of this week are slammin’, then we should be in the clear.

Contest to guess the day we write reservation/ lead number 300,000

Phone Company Alert

Lunch at the Balboa Club July 12th at Noon

PhoneSmart reserves 1 out of 5

Role-Play Helpline rents units

Look at:
PhoneSmart Your Offsite Sales Solution
Secret Shopping Blog Your inside peek

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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Compiled by Tron Jordheim, the big guy himself.

I hope your store or stores had a great May. PhoneSmart did. We set some company records this month for:

1. Calls answered: 22,560

2. Credit Card reservations: 1,996

3. Hot Leads: 6,635

4. Speed to answer rate: 6 seconds

PhoneSmart Your Offsite Sales Solution
Secret Shopping Blog Your inside peek
Self Storage Search Engine Self Storage in Pennsylvannia

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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The first Monday of February is upon us and we had hoped to have a pretty good day. With the Super Bowl happening yesterday, one would assume our call volume would be strong today. It has been a good day for call volume, although we would have liked to have seen better reservation activity. But most of the country is having clod, or normal winter, weather for the first time in several weeks. This tends to decrease demand quite a bit.

We expect the middle of this week to be pretty soft, except for the people calling because they are late on their rent and you have over-locked their units. We get to talk to a lot of these callers every month around the 10th.

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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Use what you’ve got!!!

Recently StorageMart surveyed 225 new storage customers…

Over 95% said they rated their StorageMart experience as good to excellent!

Over 95% also said they would recommend StorageMart to a friend.

When I found this out, I figured that I would use this valuable information and relay it to the next StorageMart rental inquirer that rang in.

We went through the normal logistics of the call and when asking for the hold on the unit, the caller stated that he was still planning to call a couple of other places, even though he may go ahead and rent from StorageMart since that store was closer to him.

When he said that, I used what I had… the survey information!

I started out with something like, “Well, just to let you know, StorageMart recently surveyed 225 of their new customers”…etc, etc. and I ended with the casual “So, why wouldn’t you want to store with us?”

Even though it did not get me the reservation that I was aiming for, I knew that there was no way he would forget about Storagemart.

The manager at that location immediately called us to let us know that she was so grateful to get that 3rd lead. (Out of the 3 leads we sent her – it’s a new store by the way… she rented to all 3 of them) She had immediately called him back and locked in the deal with him.

Now… 3 things to remember here…

1. Use what you’ve got and don’t hold back. Never assume something won’t work if you haven’t tried it.

2. Call back your leads immediately to make that everlasting impression on your rental inquirers. When you do, it pays off.

3. Call us anytime to let us know what a great job we are doing for your company. We love praise!

Merry Christmas to All!

Robin

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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Here are a few interesting items. Even though 64% of respondents say they found the location by driving by, 58% said they called first before coming in. This means your curb appeal and your phone appeal have to be up to speed.

Of the people who called first, 41% of them found the number in the yellow pages. 16% of them found the number on-line.

Here is a big one. 59% of respondents contacted 1 or more competitors before choosing StorageMart. This means that only 4 in 10 of your prospects are likely to contact you first and contact no other competitors. 44% contact 2 or more competitors.

This probably means that they liked what they heard or saw at StorageMart and did a little more comparison shopping to assure themselves of their choice. But it might also mean that they contact competitors first and did not like what the competitor showed or said and continued until they found a storage place they liked.

This just confirms what you already know instinctually. You need to work every leads as best you can and try to let no one get away.

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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October proved to be a good month for rental inquiries. Last year we saw quite a bit of softness during the middle of the month. This year the middle of the month did not turn week. I fact we saw a mid-week flurry around the 12th and 13th. And Demand stayed strong through the end of the month with solid reservation activity.

Some of this activity is because of the recent hurricanes, creating a lot of demand in the storm damaged areas. But other areas have been good, too. It is encouraging that we are going into November with some October momentum. This should help everyone through the winter. We will have to see how the rise in heating oil and natural gas will impact our business.

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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Today was the first sloooww day of the Autumn season. September acted as we had expected. It finished with a nice flurry last week. Every day was good for call volume and very good for reservations. Yesterday treated many of our reps well. But today is one of those days where you think the whole world will never store a single item again ever.

But when you look at the last few years of activity, this is a typical first Tuesday of October. In general Mondays are comparatively good in early October, but traffic and demand slip off considerably on those corresponding Tuesdays.

The third week of October promises to be the slowest month we will have experienced since mid February or Mid-March. A higher percentage of calls will be rental calls, but the traffic will be slow.

This is a good time to remember how much our clients rely on us. It is slow for them too this week. So every rental we capture will be a big help to them.

Bye for now, Tron

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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Some people think September is a down month for storage, because the volume of the demand slows. But we find it is in many respects a great month for storage. During the busy summer months we are flooded with calls for rental trucks and calls from current customers who have all kinds of questions about their accounts.

In September we get fewer calls by far, but the ratio of “money” calls is much higher. This allows us to adjust staffing levels and see much better reservation and lead percentages.

Don’t think that the season is over, just because it slows a little. The callers we talk to this time of year are serious buyers looking to store soon. Keep this I mind as you talk to prospects on the phone and in your office. Since many of you are still pretty full from the summer, you don’t have a ton of availability. Match your limited availability with your prospect’s sense of timing and you have a rental …now.

Bye for now, Tron

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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We are still covered up by the residual call volume from the end of July. In the next day or two I will be able to make some sense out of July activity. It looks like it actually finished off a little stronger than we had anticipated. And we were projecting for a flood of rental demand over the last weekend of July.

How was July for you? Did it run you over like a run-away truck?

So August is here, which means it is time to get ready to go to the Self Storage Association’s Fall conference in Las Vegas. Attendance is required at this event if you are at all serious about your involvement in Self Storage. The SSA always has a great program. As the SSA develops and becomes more of a professional development source for us, you will see many interesting offerings. The trade show is always good. You’ll get to see our new booth and get to see lots of other great vendors. The setting isn’t bad either. The host hotel is very nice. Fit for an emperor.

I have a special offer that should make it interesting for you. PhoneSmart is offering one paid full registration and a night out to dinner for one lucky winner. We will select a winner at random from anyone who can name three different people who have posted submissions to the self storage blog over the last several months. Just look through the archives and pick out the names of three people who have submitted items and email the names to me at Tron@phone-smart.net. The deadline for entries is August 17th. If you are selected the winner and you have not registered yet for the conference, we will buy your registration. If you win and have already registered, we will reimburse you for it. And we will treat you to dinner. There will be two dinner times available for you to choose: Wednesdays or Thursday at 8:00 pm in one of the restaurants in Caesar’s. You can transfer your prize to someone else if you won’t be able to use it.

So don’t delay. Look through the archives and submit the three names to me soon.

bye for now, Tron

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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Today was a pretty slow day compared to the last few weeks. This is what we expect in the middle of a busy month. We usually see a big dip in rental demand this time of month. It is a let-down to our telesales reps who have been living on storage adrenaline for the last few weeks. They don’t have many chances to hit home runs between now and the 14th or so. That is when end-of-month demand will start to heat up. Today you can hear a lot of calls about tenant’s past-due rent and account questions.

These days do allow us to catch our breath, re-examine call volume and staffing projections. We also saw which new staff memebers could handle the rush and which couldn’t. So we have lost one rep who could not make it work. But that is okay. This is a challenging position and if a person is not cut out for it, it is better for them, for us, for our clients and for the callers, if they find another line of work. And we see there is always another talented prospect in the wings. So we will have three new sales trainees working next week. If they catch on, they will be able to swing up to par by the end of the month. This time of year, it is easy to get someone a lot of experience quickly.

bye for now, Tron

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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Yesterday, the 5th of July, was a crazy day. We did not know exactly how to call the day for rental demand. Last year the 4th fell on a Sunday. It acted like a normal Sunday ,although the phones did slow down a lot earlier in the day. Monday was like a regular Monday and Tuesday was quite busy.

We assumed yesterday should have been busy as it was the first day back to work for most people after a big summer holiday weekend. It ended up being our busiest day so far this year, but it took a long time to get started. The early moring hours were fairly slow and we thought we called the day wrong. The call volume never really started until about 10:30 am central time ,when the west coast callers start getting at it. It stayed steady through the day with a few spurts. But none of the call volume spikes were extreme as they often are on a very busy day. So by the time the evening shift took over, we still thought we were going to have a relatively lackluster day. But the calls never really slowed down as they normally would until much later in the evening.

This means that July is coming in strong. This is a good thing. It also falls in line with what many clients have told us. This year’s rental season started a little later than usual…maybe not until mid June. We’ll keep you posted as the month continues. We assume this weekend will quiet down and next week will be a little soft before things get bonkers on the 18th.

bye for now,
Tron

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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July is here and June blew threw like a gale. The last two weeks of June behaved moslty like we forecasted…strong demand towards the end of the week of the 20th and a big bang the last few days. Two items worth noting. Our early morning call traffic has picked up since in June. We had seen fairly lackluster call volume in the early morining hours until about June 6th, when we started seeing much more demand very early in the day. This is a great indicator that the season for storage is heating up.

We also saw an error in our forecast at the very end of the month. Normally we would have expecting a softening of demand on Wednesday the 29th, with storage buyers “catching their breath” before blasting us again on the 30th and the 1st. But Wednesday was not soft at all. Actually it was stonger than Thursday. This is another indicator that the season is probably as hot as we’d like to see it.

What I don’t know is how this fourth of July weekend will play out. With the fourth falling on a Monday, we might see much more activity than normal, since everyone will have a three day weekend. Last year was a three day weekend, with the fourth falling on the Sunday. The demand acted like a mormal beginning of the month weekend. As expected Monday was a little soft, with people kicking back and traveling. Then Tuesday was very strong.

The AAA auto club is predicting a record travel weekend. It may be that more people will be traveling than storing. Or it may be that many will take advantage ot the long weekend and get a lot done around the house and with their moving before relaxing on Monday. Either way, Tuesday will be very busy here. We hope your site will be busy as well.

bye for now, Tron

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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May’s call volume rolled pretty much as we expected. Memorial day was about as busy as a normal Monday. The Tuesday after was our best call volume day of the year and included our highest number of calls in a half hour period all year, too. Today was more like a normal Wednesday. We hope you benefitted from all of this call volume. Our average self-storage property sent us three callers to talk to yesterday. On average, that would mean one rental per property was created from missed calls just yesterday alone. Not too bad, eh?

Today is the last chance for you to enter our contest for the free registration for the Inside Self Storage conference in Miami in October 2005. Simply browse through the archive of self storage blogs and select your favorite entry. Email me with the number of the entry. You find the entry number in the lower right hand corner of each submission. We will select the winner tomorrow and announce the winner on Friday.

Good luck. We have quite a few entries already. Don’t miss your chance.

bye for now, Tron

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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Is it worth having PhoneSmart handle a self storage property’s missed phone calls? Here are some results from 2005 that should be interesting for you.

PhoneSmart clients, you can use these numbers to compare to your properties’ results.

The rest of you can use these to calculate lost revenue.

These numbers represent the averages for all PhoneSmart Self Storage client properties for 2005.

If you apply the typical closing percentages of 75% of credit card reservations and 20% of Hot Leads * and assume an average value of $600.00 per rental, our average self storage client property rented:

January 3.53 units for $2,118.00 in revenue

February 3.39 units for $2,034.00 in revenue

March 4.22 units for $2,532.00 in revenue

April 4.79 units for $2,874.00 in revenue

These are units that were rented from phone calls the property was not able to answer.

Almost all properties pay for their PhoneSmart call center service with one rental per month.

The question then becomes…
Is it worth spending $250 to $500 to gain $2,000 plus?

This is before the rental season has even really begun. Call volume is up so far about 30% in May as compared to April

* Clients with top notch lead management systems are renting 85-90% of credit cards and 30% of Hot leads.

For those of you who are also interested in how secret shopping services and improved sales skills impact self-storage, go to today’s entry at www.secretshoppingblog.com and see our report on secret shopping results in self storage. Click the secret shopping affiliate link on the side bar.

And don’t forget to send me an email with your favorite self storage blog entry and you’ll be entered to win a Gold Package registration for the ISS Miami 05 conference in October.

Month /Reservations /Hot Leads
jan /2.06 /9.95
feb /2.05 /9.33
mar /2.56 /11.5
apr /3.16 /12.13

Bye for now, Tron

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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The U.S. census bureau projects that the 60 and over population will increase 81% by the year 2030. The 18-59 market is said to increase by only 7% in the same period. What is this going to do to the self storage business? What is it going to do to your little sub-market that you operate in? I’m not sure self storage insiders have dealt with this issue specifically, have they? Some people in the apartment industry are starting to see more and more seniors keep an apartment near the grandkids, while having their “permanent” residence somewhere else. Many are finding an apartment is the ideal part-time residence.

The self storage association’s market survey found that home owners are storing more often and more belongings than apartment dwellers. But the survey did not, I believe, ask about 100% residence or part-time residence. How different are the part-time residents than the full-timers in their storage habits and needs?

Will these two-residence seniors store on both sides or on only one?

How will we build, market and run self storage properties differently when the majority of customers are 60 and older? Will we have “muscle” on hand to move the belongings for people? Will we need a more “valet” attitude? Who knows?

Will we have craft rooms or community meeting rooms, so our customers can practice their hobbies and meet with their hobby friends at the same storage unit where they store their hobby supplies? Maybe so.

What about the slow growth in 18-59 year olds? Will this mean we see a contraction in our business when the tipping point comes between the two population groups? Will it mean that the younger group will use storage more as home price increases price most younger people out of the home market, or force them to seek smaller homes? Will it mean the younger group will rent apartments because the home prices are too steep? If so, will They need to store more or less?

These are things we need to think about. Tell me your thoughts on these topics. I realize few of us have a 25 year plan. Those of you who were in storage in 1980 may or may not have been able to anticipate and prepare for what we see today.

bye for now, Tron

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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In case you don’t konw why our clients love us, I thought I’d share these points with you…

“WHY DO THEY LOVE US”

Current tenants
Current tenants appreciate our service because we are here to answer their concerns when they call in. We are able to answer basic questions for them and solve minor issues. Tenants are also given the option of leaving a message for the managers. Some of them feel relieved to reach a live person instead of a recording. Either way, we help eliminate any frustration that might have otherwise occurred.

Renters
Shoppers and prospective renters respect our service because we are knowledgeable, friendly, and responsive. We are here to answer questions and help people figure out their needs. By stressing the benefits of the features at the property, we can help callers decide to rent with you. We save them time and the hassle of searching for space by highlighting your property.

Property managers
Property managers trust our service because we are part of their team. We assist by renting units, serving as a backup on phone calls, and offering excellent customer service…while site staff people are unavailable.

Management
Upper management is pleased with our ability to provide them with useful information to run their business. We help them meet revenue and occupancy goals. We also protect advertisement investments.

Share Holders
Owners and investors are grateful because we protect their assets. We aid them in maximizing investment returns. We help their businesses run smoothly and successfully.

We are here to boost your profits and provide you with excellent service.

bye for now, Tron

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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Mondays are always good days for rental demand. Mondays in busy season are sweet. First Mondays of the month in busy season are very good. I hope you saw a lot of activity yesterday, yourself. We averaged a little over 2 calls answered per self storage property serviced yesterday. That means we probably paid for our entire month of service for each self storage client in one day of work. That isn’t too shabby.

Self storage insiders often look at the busy season as a time to hunker down and keep busy. It should also be a time of maximizing demand and maximizing rent rates. Improving sales techniques and using a call center like PhoneSmart should help you rent to more people. This should help you move rental rates forward. Bye for now, Tron

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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This is the same cycle you experience at the store. Today and tomorrow there will still be some new renters showing up to get a unit. But starting today you will get your early month calls like, “How much do I owe?”, “When are you open so I can pay my bill?” People are easily conditioned. So after the first five calls like this, you assume the sixth call will be the same. So you answer with your, “ Drat, another silly billing question” attitude. But the sixth call is someone who is shopping around for a storage unit.

Self storage insiders believe that a caller will stop calling when they get a friendly, knowledgeable person who sells the store. Will you be caught off-guard and give the caller the wrong first impression? Sometimes playing a mind-game with yourself is far more effective than allowing the flow of the day to condition you as if you were one of Pavlov’s dogs.

Assume every person who is calling is a new potential customer. This is, in fact, true. If you get first time callers, then the field is wide open. If you get a current tenant, then you have the chance to sell boxes, supplies and referrals. If you get 20% of your business from referrals, then every 5th tenant you talk to represents a new customer. If you rent 25% of your units to referrals, then every 4 current tenants you talk to represents a new renter. So don’t allow the couple of current tenants who have less than lovely phone manners ruin your attitude. Approach those current tenant billing calls as a way for you to stimulate referrals. Answer each call as if you are making a sale. This is one of those self-fulfilling prophesies. Make it happen. Bye for now, Tron.

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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This may sound like a lot of gobbledy goop to you, but it means a lot of money to our clients. If we can staff correctly, we will not miss very many phone calls, nor will we be fretting because we have too many people on the phone. Staffing too light means fewer leads and reservations will go to our clients. Staffing too heavy means our payroll cost will be higher than our revenue for the period. At the same time, we will be keeping the standard of our call quality up to our high standards. Our internal secret shopping crew will pull recordings for next week to evaluate. We evaluate rental calls and non-rental calls. Each type of call needs to be handled well every time. I make a big deal out of all of this, because it is our business to be prepared to back up our clients in the best fashion possible. Just as it is your business to give your storage clients the best storage experience you can.

Will you be ready for next week’s demand? Are you anticipating the increase in phone and walk-in traffic? Are you prepared to increase pricing by the end of the week if units start moving fast? Have you allotted your staff the time needed to follow up with all the people they have contact with next week who are not quite ready to commit to a unit, or will you let them fall through the cracks?

Make sure to come to the self-storage blog on April 27th and read a guest blog entry from Mike Scanlon, the self storage association president and CEO. As a self storage insider, he can give you his view of self storage trends, selfs storage secrets and where he sees the self storage business right now.

Bye for now, Tron

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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The end of March is the start of busy season.You may have seen a nice build up in demand these last two weeks. Even so, people are often surprised when March goes out like a Lion as far as storage demand is concerned. All of our sales reps are eager to get to work on Monday. They know we will be booking a lot of units for our clients’ stores next week.

So if you want to beat everyone else to a few customers, you should be open Easter Sunday and open early and stay late on Monday the 28th.
Bye for now, Tron.

Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.

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