Gabfocus Live at SSA 2021 Nashville, TN

We were so excited to be back at an in-person event that we had to do something special. A Gabfocus LIVE right from the StoragePug booth at the SSA 2021 Spring Conference and Tradeshow. We grabbed some nearby self storage experts and got some on-the-fly advice.

Moderators: Melissa Huff & Tommy Nguyen

Category: Operations
Focus: Owners and Managers
Aired: June 2, 2021
Duration: 12:40

Overview

If you don't have time to watch the whole Session, here are some of our favorite parts:

At 0:45, Alan Lindsey, the Director of Operations at the Lindsey Self Storage Group, stopped by the booth to chat storage
At 3:00, storage legal experts, Carlos Kaslow and Scott Zucker talked about their favorite legal resource, the Self Storage Legal Network
At 8:00, StorageMax's COO, Nick Newcomb, wrapped up our special in-person session by talking about their 24 facility self storage business

Catch us next time!

To keep up with the self storage events, in-person and virtual, visit our Events page! Catch us at a state association event near you (and be sure you ask about our special Pug socks).

What are Gabfocus Sessions?

Gabfocus Sessions are virtual workshops for self storage owners, managers, and operators. Brought to you by the team behind Gabfest: StoragePug and Affordable Storage Guys Management.

Each session features hand-picked industry pros who will dive deep into relevant topics surrounding our industry, share best practices, and explore trends in the market. It's our hope that these sessions help you navigate your self storage business better during these uncertain times.

Want to learn more about self storage? Join us on select Thursdays for Gabfocus.

Questions Answered in this Session

How do I get tenants to pay?
Are there any strategies to get tenants to pay more consistently?
How do I handle a tenant who is always late?
How much delinquency should I expect?
What are the pros and cons of collection agencies?
What happens when they don’t?
When is the right time to evict a tenant who isn’t paying or put a lien on their unit?
What’s the best way to handle these decisions and conversations with upset tenants?
What are some typical lien law requirements to expect? Are there any new updates?
What’s the best way to keep up with the lien laws in my state?
A lot of states are passing updates to their laws (like the newspaper update). What’s the next law that the industry will push for?
What are things I can do or include in my paperwork to protect myself legally?
What do I do with their stuff?
When is the right time to hold an auction?
Do I have to send units to auction?
Can I just throw away junk from units? Can I keep it?
What are some strategies for having a successful auction?
Are there any auction pitfalls to look out for?
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned when navigating these personal situations around payment, delinquency, and auctions?

Alonna Ross

StorageAuctions.com

Website: https://www.storageauctions.com/
Email: alonna@storageauctions.com

Brian Wofford

Storage Masters

Website: https://www.storagemasters.net/
Email: brian@storagemasters.net

Resources from this session

Awesome Quotes

“Once your operation is in place, you can become more dynamic with your pricing, but that requires data. You need some method of being able to record the data that you need to know whether your price is in the right place - whether you need to move it up or start giving some concessions.” - Warren Lieberman

“I never want to downplay to what someone else is doing. I'm better than they are, then I'm going to be worth a higher price. That's what value is. If you go out to a restaurant and get really good service, would you go back? Yes! What if it was pricier? You'd still go back because you got better service and a better product.” - Jim Mooney

"It's good to be informed on your competition. I don't want to ignore them, but I don't want to respond too strongly to them either." - Warren Lieberman

"We did a survey of 10,000 facilities on their pricing. We found out that two-thirds of those operators didn't change the price of a single unit of the course of a month." - Warren Lieberman

“Rate increases and value pricing are the number one ways to grow your revenue.” - Jim Mooney

"Tenants in more convenient units tend to be less price sensitive." - Warren Lieberman

"The size of the unit is only one aspect of what people are willing to pay for." - Warren Lieberman

Highlights

Foundational marketing strategies to have in place - whether leasing up or stabilized:

Website
Set up listings (Yelp, Google My Business, Apple Maps)
Social Media
Establish Local Partnerships

Lease up marketing strategies:

Lead Generating Strategies (like digital ads)
Aggregators (Sparefoot, Storagefront, etc.)
Awareness Campaigns (like billboards, flyers, and sponsorships)

Your average customer value
Find the average stay length of all tenants. Next take your economic occupancy and divide by how many units you have. That will tell you what the average customer pays.

Multiply the average length of stay by what the average customer pays, and that's the average value of a customer.

For example, if a customer stays for 12 months and pays $100 per month, then their value is $1,200.

Your average lead value

Figure out your closing rate (or conversion rate) i.e. how many leads do you turn into tenants? Multiply that by your average customer lifetime value to figure out what your leads are worth.

Pro Tip: see which lead sources are converting the best. It may be that certain sources have a higher conversion rate, so those leads are worth more to you than a source that barely converts.

Typical Lease-up timeline

According to our panelists, it's typical to see a 3-4% increase each month, putting your facility at 36% after the first year, and 72% after the second.

Alternately, you can look at your lease up goals through the lens of your units, aiming for 20 units rented per month.

For Nick and StorageMax, they pro forma their economic occupancy at 85% with their sweet spot at 92%.