» Self Storage Spaces

A self storage space can be of different sizes. One can hire a storehouse of a suitable size depending upon the sizes and the number of items that one would like to put in the storehouses. For storing large items, such as beds, dining tables and cabinets, one has to choose large sized storehouses, whereas for storing small household articles such as some electrical equipment or cookware one can go for small storehouses. There are storehouses that are designed to accommodate only one or two rooms or official items, and there are storehouses that are designed to accommodate the entire contents of the household or houses for rent . The smallest storehouses are about twenty five square feet in size, whereas the largest ones may be about one thousand square feet in size.

One may not be able to decide upon the exact size of the self storage space that he might want to accommodate a given number of items of a given size. He should call up the firm from which he wants to hire a storehouse and ask the experts out there regarding the size of the storehouse that he should select for storing his items. The experts will readily provide information on the size of the storehouse that is ideal for storing a given number of items of given sizes. There are firms that run a twenty four hours helpline to answer the queries of their clients. One can call up these help lines either during the day or night time as per convenience and find out about the different amenities that are available.

The self storage space experts can guide the tenants in the type of storehouses that will suit their requirements. For example, if the tenant tells them the items that he wants to store in the storehouse, the experts can tell him if these items should be placed in zones with special features such as high security and environmental control. Good firms employ experts that have offered consultation to thousands of people and hence one can safely trust them in getting good advice.

Other than ask experts one can also visit the websites of firms that offer online guides for choosing storehouses of appropriate sizes and types. These guides will show the interiors of each type of storehouse that is available with the firm along with examples for easy understanding. One can see different types of items being fit into each and every self storage space and the number of items that can be accommodated in each one of them.

A small closet that one can walk in is perfect for storing small items such as small furniture, toys, summer and winter clothing, boxes and sundry household or office items. One can choose large closets for storing big household items such as couches, dressers or mattresses. One can also fit in some small or medium sized boxes along with all the big sized items. These storehouses are large enough to store bikes and motorcycles during the winter months. One can also place large equipment such as lawn mowers and patio furniture or snow blowers during the off season. A self storage space that is about seventy five square feet in size can hold all the items that generally belong to a single bedroom apartment or a studio. A storehouse that is about a hundred feet in size can hold the entire contents of a two bedroom home.

Kensington Self Storage

Laurel Self Storage

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Your local self storage unit provider in 3100 N Mannheim Franklin Park, IL. 60131

Quality Assurance Testing

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Today’s self storage blog is from one of our sales reps and trainers, Laura.

It happened to me! With little to no warning I found myself without a home. No fault of my own of course, my landlord decided to let the bank foreclose on the house I was renting without giving me ample warning to move out. So with only nine shopping days left until Christmas, and I have yet to do mine, I now need to find a home. Unfortunately three things are against me in doing so.

First, I am in Columbia Missouri and this time of the year it is cold and wet so there is an inconvenience I would rather not have. Second, this is the home of three major colleges and all the decent rentals are already taken until late Spring. Third moving is usually a planned expense and rather costly with rent, rent deposits and utility deposits as well as the cost of actually moving my belongings.

So now I am back to where I started, homeless, and I will have to knit sweaters to give as holiday presents, after I learn how to knit. So I now sit in that proverbial boat going up that proverbial creek without that proverbial paddle. What do I do? I call my best friend and after much crying for both of us she offers to put me up until I can find a place after the holidays. Perfect solution except… where do I put my earthly belongings?

Why self-storage of course! After all I am an expert at the business. I sell storage space all the time and even train others to do so. Cut and dry, black and white, pink and green, this will be a breeze. I thought. What I did not take in to account was the emotional part of this. I never thought this could happen to me. Me. Laura Dawn.

I am always the one helping others through these rough spots in life. Granted things could be much worse: no loss of life, no hurricane damage, no fire damages. I speak on a daily basis to at least one person who needs to store as a result of these misfortunes. I preach empathy to the people I train because someone going through these kinds of circumstances wants understanding not sympathy. I was praying that karma would in turn bless me with understanding people who want to help me reach a solution to my predicament. I did. Thank you karma!
Arlene and Jason, the management team at the local StorageMart our office is connected to, were more than willing and understanding to help solve part of my problem. Thanks to both of them and their efforts I am now a proud owner of a 10×10 storage unit with a nice new shiny lock on the door. I can spend time with my best friend and her family for a while until I can find a place. Once again life is good and all is well in my world. Thanks karma. Gotta go now, my knitting lesson is in half an hour and I’m learning to do a pair of mittens. What do you think, pink and green? Happy Holidays!

Laura Dawn

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Welcome to the self storage blog, our window into the world of self storage.

I had the pleasure of visiting with two self storage insiders today who made the trip to COlumbia Missouri to visit our off-site sales center. We talked about how simple a business self storage appears to be. And we talked about how it may be simple, but it is not neccessarily easy. Some people make the mistake of thinking any simple business is easy and get involved without figuring out what they are doing. Other people make the msitake and think that wimple is the same as easy.

In self storage, you rent space month to month for people to put their things in. Yes it is that simple. But as in most projects, the devil is in the details and there are many complications involved.

It is probably the same in a lot of businesses. And I’m sure we all have stories about the people who thought they could run a simple business without figuring out the details.

bye for now,
Tron

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Welcome to the self storage blog, the on line self storage diary from PhoneSmart.

Today I am at a conference focused on marketing apartments. The apartment industry is starting to see a trend that I think storage people already understand, even if we don’t think about it every day. Self storage insiders look at average rent per customer, average ancillary sales per customer, average stay and other figures. Apartment professionals are realizing that these kinds of numbers are more important than they realized. They call it “Return on Customer” or ROC ( as oppossed to ROI). I have talked about the true value of a move-in and the true value of a new tenant many times. Now I know what to call this concept. It is a pretty neat term it gives you the visualization that each tenant is an investment which brings a return. That makes all the sense in the world.

So try looking at your customers this way. What returns in rent, products, referrals, good will and so on does each of your customers give you in return for the use of your storage space? Now look at ways you can increase those returns and add more new customers.

One of the other trends they discussed was the number of 18-24 year olds who are living at their parents’ homes becasue they cannot carry their student loans and apartment rent at the same time. This is a real opportunity for storage owners. These young people have stuff. Their parents have stuff. If they are all trying to live together, they need a storage unit to make it all work, don’t they?

Someone else said that the number one searched item on EBAY last year was “RV”. This means more peolpe are hoping to stay on the road part of the time. They will need to park their RVs when they are in their homes or apartments. And they will need storage when they are home or on the road.

Some interesting things to think about.

bye for now, Tron

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How do you prevent self storage from being a standard commodity? In the minds of many consumers a 5×5 is a 5×5 no matter how you slice it and the only difference is the price from one to the other. Self storage insiders would say, “Wait a minute. My store is worth every penny, because…”.

You may think your place is special and indeed it may be. But how do you get your prospective customers to agree with you? Take a look at how some other industries try to fight off becoming common. Many businesses private label all kinds of run-of the–mill products to try and set them apart. Some use celebrity endorsement to make themselves seem different.

Auto dealers have a problem because the same make and model is available at many dealerships. The pricing comparisons are on the internet. This makes it hard to get a customer to come into the dealership. As in storage, if you can get someone to come to the store, the chances of making a sale are great. Some car makers are mixing up and varying package options and discounts so much that you can’t just call the dealer and get a firm quote. You have to select a specific vehicle that the dealer runs a search on through their direct connection to the maker to check current discounts, incentives, etc. These incentives change from day to day, so you have to make your buying decision immediately to get the incentives on the exact model you want. I don’t’ know how well this plan is working. We’ll see if auto dealers expand this plan, change it, or drop it.

Many in the self storage industry use demand based pricing so that stores are changing rates almost every day depending on demand cycles. This can help create urgency, when trying to convince someone to come down and rent immediately. You have some unique features at your property that other people may not have. You certainly point these out to people.

I’d be curious to read how you try to set yourself apart and get people to come in and decide right away. Email me and tell me what works for you.

Bye for now,
Tron

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How many customers do you lose because people get lost or distracted on the way to your self storage place? I bet more than a few. We had a call this morning from one of our great clients. She runs a store that we send quite a few leads and reservations to. She called back a reservation we had sent her this morning and the guy we had talked to already had rented at a competitor. Her conversation with him made her think he didn’t know which store he thought he was renting at. She called us and we pulled the recording of the call and listened to it. It sounded like the caller was not completely sure of the directions, but he said something like, “Yeah, yeah, I know where it is.” After we listened to the call, the rep who took the call realized she should have re-confirmed the directions with him just to make sure. So just like a man, he headed off to store his belongings not quite really sure where he was heading. He pulled into the first self storage place that looked like it might be kinda sort of where he thought it might be and rented a unit. Dang. One lost for our team.

We know from experience that if a caller knows where the store is located and says that it is a convenient location, your odds of renting to him just doubled or even tripled. This is why we normally make a big deal out of the location when talking to callers and why we normally make sure they say they know how to find the store. In a case like this, we can do an instant review with reps and help reinforce the importance of not taking, “yeah, yeah” as enough of an answer.

We have also seen that people can be easily distracted. We started answering for another store about a year ago. Conversion rates on leads and reservations were going well. Then a new competitor built down the street a ways. We knew that a new competitor had built close by. But soon the conversion rates dropped dramatically. OK, so we went trouble shooting. We went through all the information we had on the store screen to make sure we knew the store well and were selling its best features. We made sure the follow-up program at the store was still sound. Then we uncovered the problem. The store staff had not given us a new set of driving directions after the competitor opened shop. We were directing people right past the new store. So some people were distracted by the new store and pulled in to check it out. They found it to their satisfaction and chose to rent there. Other people simply pulled into the new store by mistake and rather than admitting their mistake, they chose to rent at the competitor. As soon as we changed the directions to guide drivers the other way to the store, the conversion rates jumped back up to where they were supposed to be.

So be careful that people can find you and don’t end up at your competitor by mistake. We think taking a pre-paid credit card reservation has proven to be a great way to keep people from being distracted. But also make sure your directions take your prospects directly to you.

Make sure to come to the self storage blog on April 27th. We will have a special guest writer for that day’s submission. Bye for now, Tron

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