Your facility’s chosen self storage software is an incredibly powerful tool, but it doesn’t help you much if you don’t use it correctly.
There are some key habits you can form and actions you can take to start getting the most out of your self storage software. Doing so can turn your customer service from average to amazing in no time at all.
Read on to see the top 5 ways you can start getting more out of your self storage software.
There are many types of self storage software out there, but we’re talking about one specifically: Your property management software.
If you manage a self storage facility, then you probably already work in your facility’s PMS.
Property management software can handle a multitude of tasks such as billing, access control, communications, and—most importantly for our needs today—customer relations management.
That’s right. Your self storage PMS is a powerful tool that also acts as your self storage CRM!
Why is managing your relationships with customers so important?
Because it helps you improve your customer service!
A good customer service experience is the leading reason customers will choose one business over another.
Now you might be asking yourself, “How do I improve my self storage customer experience?”
The answer is simple: Start doing these 5 things and you’ll see a shift in your customer relationships.
Be honest: How well do you know your tenants?
If you manage a large self storage facility, you may not know them very well. Maybe you know the ones that frequent their units, or the ones that have recently moved in and spent time talking to you.
Are you going to remember your conversations with them in a month, though? What about three months?
What about when they’re ready to move out and you leave them with their final impression of you?
It’s alright if you can’t keep that all locked away in your head. Your self storage software can do it for you!
The data shows that customers highly prefer personalized interactions.
You can deliver that personalization with your self storage PMS, helping make sure that your tenants feel as though they’re personally important and you remember your interactions with them.
Your self storage software likely includes note sections for units and tenants.
That’s where the customer service magic happens.
Every time you have an interaction with a customer, decide if there was something in there worth noting down in your self storage software.
Here are some ideas:
This is the kind of information that can let you turn your next interaction with that customer into an award-winning customer service moment.
If your customer mentioned their anniversary was around the corner and they were taking a trip to the Bahamas, then the next time you interact with them, you can pull up their notes, see what you talked about, and ask them how their trip was!
You’ll be looking like a customer service master in no time.
Do you like accomplishing two tasks while doing the work for one?
Using your self storage software, you can level up your customer service game while simultaneously improving your facility’s security.
When John Doe tells you he’s in the Bahamas for that anniversary trip? Mark his unit on your site map or in his tenant notes.
If your self storage software allows you to make enough custom unit status types, consider making a status type for this specifically.
When someone accesses that unit during the Bahamas trip, you can pay them a visit and see what’s going on. It could be a family member with access to the unit, or it could be someone who shouldn’t be there.
You’ll ensure the unit’s security while simultaneously impressing the tenant when you follow up with them!
Your self storage software likely includes a lot of different reporting functions.
Pulling reports from your software allows you to get a good glimpse of your self storage business.
You might think you have a good perspective on how things are running, but actual data can often surprise people.
There’s a multitude of helpful reports available in most property management software—a management summary, reports for past due accounts, occupancy reports, and more.
When it comes to improving your customer service, your reports are going to be a tool you use to see where you’re currently doing poorly and find places to improve. They may also be used as a way for you to reach out to customers that often have late payments, for example, and see if there’s something you can do for them.
This one is pretty straightforward.
Simply put, automated reminders about upcoming payments help ensure people are paying on time. This keeps both you AND them happy, as few people like to realize they’ve forgotten to pay a bill.
Your self storage software should be able to automate some amount of communication with your tenants.
Even if you're not going for a contactless self storage route, a little bit of automation will go a long way towards improving your life and your business.
As an added tip, prioritize text messages for these notifications. People are more likely to view a text message than an email, and this means a higher likelihood of them paying on time!
Pug Pro Tip: If your automated reminders aren’t doing the trick, consider encouraging tenants to get on autopay! You might also investigate to see if there is some problem you can facilitate, such as a paycheck that comes in a few days after rent day every month. In situations like these, maybe you can make case-by-case changes to the payment schedule.
Reviews are important.
Nine out of ten customers read reviews before paying for something.
The best way for you to get reviews is by asking for them! So, why not leverage your self storage software to help with this?
It’s possible the software you’re using already allows you to customize automated messages.
For reviews, consider prompting tenants with review requests after their move-in and again when they’ve scheduled a move-out.
For surveys, you will want to tailor these based on the goal of the survey. If a feedback survey is specifically about your rental or move-in process, you might want to send this shortly after their move-in.
If it’s a more general survey, you probably want to either do these in bulk batches throughout the year or schedule them tenant-by-tenant at move-outs.
Either way, reviews and feedback surveys are incredibly important to your business. And your self storage software should be able to help facilitate getting them in front of tenants!
How are some more posts on improving your self storage business:
At StoragePug, we build self storage websites that make it easy for new customers to find you and easy for them to rent from you.
