Let’s discuss what features, what bells and whistles to add to your new facility or one you may be purchasing.
But first, let me tell you a story.
About half the time on workday mornings, I still head to the office. On other days, I work from home, travel, or play golf.
On the days I go to the office, since my wife is still in bed, I stop at a Panera Bread near my house for breakfast. I love their bagels.
Most Panerai Breds have pads where you can place an order, as well as people behind the counter to take your order.
I always go to the counter, order, and talk to Kelly, who works there. Kelly is in his 60s and works at Panerai in the mornings and at a cigar shop in the afternoons.
Now I will stand in line for quite a while sometimes just to place my order with Kelly, talk for a couple of minutes, and leave him a tip. It takes time, often because Kelly also talks to a lot of other people like me in front of me.
As you can imagine, most of the people who stand in line to order and talk with Kelly are my age or even older. Baby boomers.
Younger people come in and go straight for the pads and place an order. Usually, they get theirs before I get mine, but I don’t care. I am rarely in a rush these days anymore. I’ve organized my life to be this way.
I remember when Panerai first started using the pads about ten or twelve years ago. I used to sit there and watch to see who would use them and who would not, trying to translate that onto my self-storage business at the time.
That is when, even in larger facilities with managers, we started installing kiosks. Now we use pads or larger screens that interface with our website, along with QR codes. Same principle.
Let The Demographics Inform You
Ten to twelve years ago, baby boomers in our facilities usually represented between 55% on the low end up to almost 70% on the high end of our customer base, depending on the facility.
Not so anymore.
According to the most recent data I can see about our industry, Millennials (people born between 1981 & 1996) account for about 38% of self-storage users, and Gen Z (born between 1997 & 2012) account for approximately 15% of the customer base, and Gen X (born between 1965 & 1980) represent 27% on average of the self-storage customer base.
If you look at those numbers, on average, over 50% of our customers were most likely given screens to play with and to keep them occupied as very small children.
Gen Zs and Millennials have grown up during rapid technological changes. For the most part, they are tech-savvy individuals.
They grew up with automated check-ins at hotels, using Amazon regularly, looking for Airbnb rather than hotels, Uber instead of taxis, and depositing checks (if they ever get one) with their phone. The idea of a travel agent is a foreign and quaint concept.
I have noticed that most of the mom & pop facilities I purchase are owned by boomers like myself who stand in line and talk to the Kellys of the world. Our industry has been slow to change and embrace the changing world of customers.
So, back to our subject, what do we offer our customers today?
It is easy to pull demographics and see who your customer base actually is. Our feasibility reports help us define our trade area, and the demographic reports tell us who lives there.
What we offer as tech could be a function of the customer base.
Here is my thinking at this moment. At a minimum, today we offer:
- Automated access control to the facility with non-key code requirements if customers download a mobile app.
- Online move-ins, reservations, and payments.
- Security cameras.
- AI-chatbots and automated customer service tools that help in prompt and efficient response to customer inquiries, and for instant communications from a large segment of the customer base. Back up “real” people to talk to and provide customer service if needed or requested.
What we may or may not offer, depending on demographics, is:
- Keyless entry systems to units and/or mobile app access to units.
My thoughts are that, as business owners, we need to provide products and services today that are in alignment with the expectations and current experiences of our customer base with other industries.
This focus, in my opinion, is not about keeping up with trends; it is a requirement to drive customer loyalty, growth, referrals, and repeat business today.
Knowing your customers is usually the first rule of any business developing a growth strategy. For some reason, many in our industry don’t start here. But you and I do. That is what people playing the long game do.
Play the long game in your self-storage business.
