Something isn’t working.
The leads just aren’t coming. Occupancy isn’t where you want it. Reviews don’t come in. You know you aren’t hitting your goal – but why? You’re doing everything you know to do, but something’s missing.
So how do you figure out where your facility needs to improve? How do you look for ways to up your game so you don’t fall behind?
We spoke to Mark Poole from Just Storage, who let us in on his process for evaluating his portfolio of clients – and what he does to get them into fighting shape in even the toughest of markets.
When it’s time to toughen up your operation, you need to know where to look.
When Mark is assessing a facility or meeting with his team, he gets started the same way every time. He asks, “What does it look like to win here?” in the 5 fundamental areas that make or break a facility.
To solve a problem, you need to know where it’s coming from. Where you’re losing your leads informs how you’ll fix the problem and ensures you aren’t wasting effort in the wrong place.
Mark breaks down operations into these 5 fundamental categories:
Define your goals first. Whether that’s better conversion, more rentals per month, or a higher occupancy rate, you need to know what the mark is so you know if your facility’s missing it.
After that, it’s a matter of assessing each category. Ask the right questions, and the answers will follow. And in any of these cases, if you don’t know the answer, that means you have a new goal.
You can check out Mark’s advice on running a successful self storage facility below, or read on for a sample process to rate The 5 Fundamentals of your self storage operation.
Leads come to your manager, and if your sales structure has a solid foundation, you’ll close the deal the majority of the time. That’s the goal – but how do you know if your sales process needs improvement?
Not sure where to set your benchmark? The Self Storage Association 2025 Demand Study shows us that 57% of renters went with the first facility they contacted. That’s the industry average, but if you’re anywhere near that number, you’re hitting the high end of your ability to convert your pool of leads. Sitting around 20% sales conversion? Something needs to change.
According to Mark, “Customers will tell you what you need to know,” when trying to make a sale. Ask what the customer wants to accomplish today. Find out if this is the customer’s first time renting storage. Every sales interaction with a customer can move you towards your goal.
Assess your sales with a few clarifying questions to see how you stack up:
That last one is a tip directly from Mark. A failed sales interaction is data, and, “the more data you have, the better.” He tells us that referencing those conversations where you lost a lead tells you where the process broke down. Notes from those missed opportunities could show that your manager’s not asking the right questions, or they might highlight a question that your manager keeps struggling to answer.
When you see the weaknesses in the process pop up in more than one missed opportunity, you have a new target to hit.
If Sales is the area your facility’s losing renters, grow your ability to convert leads with our online resources:
Mark mentions that, “During Covid, we saw what we could get away with,” when it comes to running a business.
But competition’s tighter now, and competing without a goal can leave your marketing stretched thin and failing to pull in leads.
How many leads should a successful facility pull in per month? SAPBW Consulting uses a Reverse Sales Funnel to work backwards to get their incoming leads benchmarks. We can use a simplified version of this: your facility needs at least as many new rentals as renters who move out.
Find your average number of move-outs per month. You’ll need as many new renters as that number. So your desired number of leads is enough leads to convert the number of renters you want. For example, if you have roughly 10 move-outs a month, you need about 10 new renters per month. Let’s say you convert around 50% of leads that come to you. You’ll want 20 new leads a month–10 of which convert into renters.
But what if you want to grow occupancy? Start with the benchmark of replacing lost renters per month. Anything above that number is growth!
Your facility is the right choice for some renters – but not every renter. Without doing a little competitor analysis, it’s hard to know how your facility stands out to the people who need you.
Start your marketing audit by answering some questions about your approach:
It’s worth repeating that customers renting at the REIT next door may not be your customers. Maybe they’re fine with an indoor-only facility. But if you offer drive-up, you’re targeting people in your area who want a different style of storage entirely!
If you’re not getting leads at all, the way you’re positioning your product could be the source of the problem. Learn more about marketing your amenities and strengthen your self storage marketing foundation. Then go deeper into competitor analysis and advanced marketing tactics here:
No operation runs well without a solid team. Even if you’re wearing a lot of hats yourself or just have a single manager, your team is still a primary factor in your facility’s performance.
“Even unmanned sites have a team,” Mark tells us. For him, it’s up to operators to build a solid bench of people, then empower them to grow. If your team’s performing well, customers get seamless service that works every time – while getting special treatment when they need you to go above and beyond.
Your systems for ongoing training let you address any weaknesses that come up while assessing your team. But how often should you offer training? Hubspot’s customer service guide suggests monthly training sessions, while MySalesCoach’s data suggests that teams coached weekly hit 20% higher quota attainment. Teams generally retain information and skills growth better with short, 30-minute weekly training sessions or videos, with monthly training sessions to help retain long-term skills.
Assess your team with a few clarifying questions:
If your storage facility doesn’t have happy customers raving about how great you are – and sending more leads your way – your team may need to up their game. But it’s up to you to set them up for that success. Give your team resources for new learning and ongoing training. We’ll get you started:
Your customers dictate your business, and you can’t control that variable. But you do control how your self storage operation identifies its customers – and how you present yourself.
From a marketing angle, you need to target the right areas. But within those areas are people, and renter personas and statistics will only tell you so much about them. At the end of the day, a customer-focused approach yields the personalized service people come to your business for!
Mark tells us that “you can’t target the nation when you’re small.” Getting to know the people in your immediate area makes up the backbone of your sales and marketing strategies. The SSA Demand Study from 2025 shows us that the vast majority of your renters travel no more than 20 minutes to get to their storage facility!
An NFIB report on small business community outreach found that 76% of the businesses surveyed participate in volunteering or charity within their communities. It’s the standard rather than the exception for a small business to give back to their neighbors!
Use these critical questions to audit your Customer Relations:
Do your customers see you as a member of the community, or just another business? And if these decisions feel like a shot in the dark, learning more about the self storage customer journey will take your rating in this category higher.
Get to know your community with StoragePug’s community outreach resources:
You’re assessing your facility today. But ongoing Quality Assurance means that you don’t miss the day-to-day points of contact with customers. Just as potential customers can tell you what you need to make a sale, existing customers will tell you what’s missing in how they interact with you.
It might take thick skin sometimes, but a healthy channel for feedback leads to growth.
Google Reviews are a great way to assess your Quality Assurance, and you can boost your SEO signals by responding to them while you’re there. BrightLocal's 2024 Local Consumer Review Survey suggests that businesses should aim for a minimum average star rating of 4.0, with anything below that serving as a red flag that something needs to change.
Consider these facets of Quality Assurance when assessing your facility:
Getting bad reviews or struggling to retain tenants? Do customers or potential leads see you as just another facility? It may be a Quality Assurance problem. Learn how to assess your property for weaknesses here:
When leads aren’t coming in – or you’re losing them – it can feel like you need a quick solution. But slow things down first. Write out each category and score yourself honestly.
It can be hard to look at places that need improvement, but knowing where to look and acknowledging what you see is the first step toward fixing the problem.
Which areas can you lean on? What do you have that sets you apart? And what areas need work? Use our resources in each category to start growing, or check out the forum and courses on Storage Academy for expert advice and peer feedback.
As Mark puts it, “We’re in an industry where people want to help. Start with the outcome you want, then reverse-engineer from your strengths and weaknesses in those categories.”
You’re ready for the next step for your self storage business.
Read more about giving your self storage facility a boost in competitive markets:
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.
