Pearls of Wisdom: 10+10=100 | PugTalk

Pearls of Wisdom: 10+10=100

10 Management & 10 Marketing Tactics That Spell Success

Whether you're just starting out or a seasoned storage professional, all of us want to continuously improve our business. But how can you identify the areas that need attention? We've invited the team from Universal Storage Group to highlight easy tools, daily activities, and common-sense marketing tactics that make it possible to grow your business.

What can you use to identify parts of your business to improve?
How should you prioritize improvements at your business?
How can I use this information to grow my business?

Featured Speakers: Anne Ballard, Sarah Beth Johnson, Lou Barnholdt, & Tommy Nguyen

Aired: August 6, 2024
Duration: 2:02:52

Presentation

If you'd like to download the slides from the presentation, you can access them here.

Overview

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

At 2:50, our experts highlighted the 10 management and 10 marketing metrics that they would dig into.
4:48, the panel covered some high-level updates from the Self Storage Almanac.
Starting at 8:45, they discussed when you should use an aggregator and when you shouldn't.
At 11:40, our experts highlighted some demographic information about their storage customers.
17:10, they talk about the average length of stay of their customers.
Around 22:45, they start discussing the management metrics that you should be keeping an eye on at your business.
At 30:30, our guests touch on how to handle customer rate increases along with the importance of them.
33:10, they start digging into your site inspection report along with what numbers you should pay attention to in it.
Starting at 48:00, they cover information about your net operating income.
Around 53:45, our experts walk through the rental activity report that you can access via SiteLink.
55:15, they discuss how to create a perceived discount.
At 1:00:00, our experts cover the occupied units report from SiteLink and what you should be tracking on it.
1:04:50, the panel covers guidelines and recommendations for notifying your tenants about rate increases.
Starting at 1:11:15, they highlight some useful tools that operators can use to simplify and streamline their operations.
At 1:15:40, our experts cover the expectations they set for their managers and how they set goals.
1:17:50, they start covering the marketing metrics that you should be focused on at your business.
Around 1:19:50, they start discussing how to identify your various marketing sources.
At 1:23:50, our guests touch on the reasons that customers choose to rent at different facilities.
1:26:45, they dig into the importance of knowing what your customers are storing to adjust your unit mix.
Starting at 1:30:10, they cover the importance of your website to your marketing and rental process.
Around 1:33:50, our experts share the importance of grassroots marketing and utilizing your managers for it.
1:35:50, they highlight groups in your community that need storage or can refer customers to you.
At 1:37:50, our experts discuss how to set marketing goals and then track your progress.
1:42:30, they talk about the importance of having a referral program, along with tips for setting one up.
Around 1:47:50, they discuss how to set up a business of the month program.

Carol Mixon-Krendl

SkilCheck

Website: https://www.skilcheck.com/
Email: carol@skilcheck.com

Hailey Teal

Jenkins Organization

Website: https://www.jenkinsorg.com/
Email: hailey@jenkinsorg.com

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%.