Best Practices - Anne's Additions to Richard’s Rules

As I was reading Marmor’s Rules, I couldn’t help but think “Richard’s Rules” sounds better.  I also kept thinking of lessons learned from the great conferences, articles, and networking events I’ve been privileged to be a part of over the past six years as AZSA’s Executive Director.  I put them in writing for your consideration.  Please go to the AZSA blog to post your own additions and best practices:  http://www.azselfstorage.org/member-forum/. 

Addition #1 – Make sure your email address includes your business name.   

Even if it is only used for your self-storage business, an email address like janet@yahoo.com looks like someone’s personal email, not the means by which a business connects with customers and prospects.  How do customers know their emails are actually going to your business?  How can they search for you among their emails if your address doesn’t include your business name?  Your store’s email address is valuable internet real estate for your business.  It is a business tool that should be used by whoever is covering the store when the customer presses send.  janet@yahoo.com does not inspire confidence that there is a self-storage professional waiting on the other end to help them.  Who is Janet anyway?  So buy your domain and set up an email account using it.  

Addition #2 – Make sure your store’s snail mail can be delivered.   

If an employee’s name is on your mail and that employee leaves, the mail will be Returned to Sender even if your company’s name is on the envelope.  Believe me, AZSA got so many of these that we make a point of replacing managers’ names with a title like Manager of Facility, so YOUR business’s mail will be delivered to your business long after employees leave.  

Addition #3 – Answer the phone!   

The days of unmanned phones for self-storage facilities are long gone.  Either get a call center, or forward your phone to a line that is answered so that the people who leave their valuables with you will be able to reach you.  Every time this subject comes up, AZSA Owner/Operators say they pick up rentals when they are willing to put in the effort before- and after-hours.  Do yourself a favor and stop leaving this money on the table.  

Addition #4 – Give your managers financial incentives for what is important to you.   

What is your pain point?  The one you want to turn in to a profit point?  Is it accounts receivable  / past due accounts?  Increasing occupancy?  Increasing revenue?  All of the above?  Then include them all in an incentive package.  I hear some of you saying, “Isn’t that what I pay them for in the first place?”  That is not a helpful question to ask.  A helpful question would be, “Am I satisfied with my current results?”  If not, incentivize.  

Addition #5 – Mystery shop yourself.   

Hire someone to do it for you or ask a friend to drop by to rent a unit.  You will get valuable feedback about what is working and what is not.  You need to know what people experience when they walk through your doors to rent space.  

Addition #6 – Ask a high-maintenance woman, or a man who is an interior designer, to walk your property.  

You know, the detail-oriented people who “see things.”  Be their best friend for a day. Make a list of items they point out for maintenance and repair, prioritize them, and get to work making the place look better.  Start with low hanging fruit, like pulling weeds.  If there are projects you can’t do because they are too expensive, like resurfacing all of your asphalt, then consider re-asphalting the front parking area that people see when they drive by and enter your business.  There truly is only one opportunity to make a first impression, and according to statistics Anne Ballard shared in a recent AZSA webinar, driving by still accounts for over a third of all new rentals.  The webinar is on the AZSA website if you missed it.  

Addition #7 – Drop in unexpectedly.   

Odds are that anyone reading this already does this, but it is amazing how many absentee self-storage owners there are!  You can’t afford to be absent from your business.  If you don’t live in town, visit more often, and have someone you trust drop in and check things out in between.  And managers, invite your owners to drop in unexpectedly so you can show them what a great job you are doing.

Addition #8 – Use the technology that is available to see who’s doing what and where.   

Today’s cameras can give you a full view of every aspect of your self-storage asset, from the gate to the office to the drive aisles and any other angle you want.  Use this information to develop performance goals that can be measured.  For instance, if your managers are not out there in the community, start requiring them to make local marketing visits, another suggestion Anne Ballard made in this summer’s webinar.  Each week, require your manager to give you marketing reports that identify business name, who they visited, and comments – with a business card for each place visited stapled to the report. 

Addition #9 – Make sure daily reports are generated and reviewed.   

Use the tools you pay for!  No matter what management software you use, it will give you reports that will help you run a better business. This pointer would not be included in this article if we didn’t continually encounter Owner/Operators who do not look at daily reports.  If you don’t know how to use them, contact your software provider or bring in a professional from a management company who knows how to help you.

Addition #10 – Get an alternate contact.   

When you lease a space, make sure the occupant gives you that information.  If you use the AZSA lease, which is a really good idea, there’s a blank for that information.  When there’s an alternate contact, you have someone else to reach out to when things go south.  That came in very handy in a recent situation faced by one member.  The occupant’s wife was listed as an alternate contact, so the manager was able to contact her to resolve the delinquent fees and she was able to get her husband out of jail, based on the contents of the leased space.  

Addition #11 – Use the resources AZSA provides to train your team and improve your operations.   

There are over 20 forms in the Members Area available for FREE.  They cover many of the sticky situations you encounter, like death of a tenant, tenant substitution, auctions, partial payments, and many, many more.  All our past webinars are on the website too.  Sit down with your team and go over them, so they know where they are and how to use them.  

Addition #12 – Read the FAQs and Legal Corner articles on AZSA’s website.   

Even if you already did, do it again.  Who can memorize all the details?  Off the top of your head, how many can answer Richard Marmor’s favorite question, referenced in Marmor’s Rules:  When do I cut the lock?  Other recent questions include:  What about sales tax?  Can I add an additional late fee for all customers?  Am I allowed to enter a leased space?  All this and more are covered in the excellent material Richard Marmor wrote and posted on the AZSA website.

Bottom line:  Treat your self-storage asset as a primary business, not an afterthought, so that your investment is yielding the return it should.

Addition #13 – As a final thought:  send Richard Marmor a birthday card, any time of year!

Anne Mari DeCoster, Executive Director of the Arizona Self-Storage Association, is a management consultant with 30 years’ experience spanning many industries, but self-storage is her favorite.  Since 2002, she has focused on self-storage, including advocacy, investment, development and operations, from project concept to exit including sale to REITs.

Source: Behind Closed Doors, AZSA Newsletter Archives