Sometimes good customer service can really backfire! In the "Self Storage Mis-Management" Series, this is the second of the five top operational failures you need to avoid.  I've learned this the hard way. Last week we discussed the first mistake to avoid - getting on...

You don't know what you don't know.  That's how self storage mismanagement often happens. Just as there are 5 things to keep your eyes on to build a great self storage business, there are 5 things not to do to keep that great business going. The next five posts will...

A few weeks ago, as I was leaving a challenging meeting with a real estate client - frustrated that I didn't get the deal done - I got a call from one of our facility Managers. I immediately thought, "What now?" When I answered, she excitedly said “I hit my monthly...

There are few true win/wins in life, but “Tenant Insurance” is one of them.  It has big benefits for everyone. In our main market, we have just recently been allowed to sell tenant insurance in our facilities. Before that, we could only give out information and hope...

This week is the fourth week of "The Management Series" and the Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) that every self storage manager should be tracking. “Our Managers relate to their job like they are running a store, not like a property manager”. I tell that to...

"I can tell you have a lot of customers on payments plans that are behind with their payments." I was talking to the manager of a facility we purchased a few years ago. “How in the world can you know that?” they asked. “Easy, your delinquency percentage is 27%.” This...

Last week was the beginning of "The Self Storage Management Series." I noted that if you keep your eye (or your Manager's eye) on five things you'll do great in this business.  Today I want to delve deeper into the first one: dollars per month. In many ways, this is...

I often say, “If you keep your eyes on five things in self storage you'll do great.” What's strange is that very few people ever ask me what those five things are.  Very strange. Part of building a thriving self storage business is tracking these top 5 self storage...

Those of us in the self storage business are very lucky when comes to industry associations. Other industries are not as lucky. We have the SSA (Self Storage Association) Annual Convention  in Las Vegas coming up next week. For the first time in a long time I am going...

OK, I made another mistake. I wrote and filmed a different post for this week. Then I came down to our new facility in Florida today and left the camera with this week’s video in it at home. In that episode I wrote about anther mistake I made around the upcoming Self...