Financial Analysis Program:

The  Storage World Analyzer is a program I created that has evolved over ten plus years of purchasing self storage. I’ve used it to analyze and accurately predict cash flows for years. It also provides detailed reports that I have created to raise equity with investors and obtain financing with lenders. I am not always the sharpest tool in the shed, but I look like I know what I am doing with this program.        

Self Storage Operating Systems

There are a lot of good programs out there and we have used several of them. We have recently converted all of our facilities over to Site Link. This is, in our opinion, the best in the industry. Being web based, we always enjoy the upgrades and it is also installed on the facility computers so if access to the internet is down, we don’t miss a beat. It also works great on tablets (some of our managers use tablets instead of computers). As an owner, I have an easy interface to all the stores and can print reports for each facility individually or all together. It also integrates seamlessly with our web sites.  

Website Design

I love our facility websites. They were created by The Storage Group. We’ve had a lot of success with them and the design interface with our operating system is great. Our clients can reserve units, rent units, pay their bills and watch videos to meet staff and tour the facilities on these sites. The days of a website only being a flyer or advertisement are over. If you do not conduct business on your web site now, you are becoming irrelevant.

Call Centers

Yes, we use call centers.  Do you know why we use call centers? REITS use call centers. I try to piggy back off their research. I also track everything I can think of and depending on the facility, we usually get two to six rentals per month from using XPS Call Center. What I don’t like about call centers is they usually use a hard sell technique to set up appointments. For years I wouldn’t use them because I did not like that experience myself. However, with XPS, I just pay a monthly fee as opposed to a per appointment fee, and the experience for our customers and prospects is much better.  

Tenant Insurance

I am new to the game of tenant insurance. In our home state (where many of our facilities are), we just underwent a significant change to insurance laws (thanks to the national and state Self Storage Association). This monumental legislation permits self-storage facilities to offer and sell insurance to tenants. We performed a thorough review of  all the providers and chose Bader Insurance. Our commission structure is good, and they provided excellent training for all our managers. I especially like the quick response and payment of benefits if a claim is made by one of customers, and the insurance itself is excellent. If your customers are under the impression that their home owners insurance covers their goods, they are making a big mistake. If they are not using Bader, their home owners insurance could go up, they have a deductable, and it is a hassle to make the claim. Bader gets rid of all that for a few bucks a month.     

G5 Digital Marketing

As we have grown, we needed more integration features and support. G5 has offered that and we are using them now. I think you will enjoy the team approach. 

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

We also use The Storage Group for this service. In all of our markets, our links show up on the first page of Google. Sometimes, if I am not using a pay for click option, it takes a few months to reach page one, but so far, we have ended up there. They send me a detailed monthly analytics report for each location. I can then call in to my rep and go over the progress and goals to create next month’s online strategy.    

Live Oak Bank

Live Oak Bank is not your traditional bank. With a laser focus on innovation in finance and technology, we bring efficiency and excellence to the lending process. 

RESOURCES FOR BUYERS/BUILDERS

Feasibility Reports

My go to person these days for feasability reports is Amanda Helfrich at Starr Commercial Resl Estate. I would never purchase a facility, or build one, without a feasibility report. I have worked with Amanda for almost three years. Her knowledge of the industry and the statistics at her finger tips have always been dead on. She has kept me out of a few deals as well, and I am still in the business today because of it.  

Feasibility Reports

I have also used James Chiswell of Chiswell & Associates, LLC throughout the rest of the country. His reports are very well written and have lots of great information I can use to help execute a business strategy for a new facility. He sometimes will even put in what he sees as the best practices to make sure they are implemented in the facility to be competitive with the competition in the sub-market in which the subject facility is located.    

Self Storage Systems  

We have had a long and successful relationship with Trachte Building Systems.  If they are not the largest, they are one of the largest self storage building system providers in the world. Their product is outstanding and we feel we have always received excellent value. Their engineers have helped lay out facilities in order to achieve the best optimization and unit mix, and have also helped us with stamped building plans at very reasonable numbers. We highly recommend them. 

Associations

As I said in the book Creating Wealth Through Self Storage, having come from the real estate industry, I find it very odd that there are two competing associations in this industry. They offer an expansive array of benefits and resources to their members. I am a member of both.

First and foremost, every owner should be a member of the Self Storage Association. They do more to assist the self storage owner that anyone really knows. They almost single handedly go state by state and lobby to get the state lien laws and insurance laws changed to assist the self storage owner. No one works harder for the self storage industry than this association. I would also join the state level.

Inside Self Storage (ISS) is also a first class organization. Their conferences and expo conventions are outstanding. They are chocked full of the latest industry insights and the training they can provide