How Matt Transformed A Traditional Storage Facility and Simplified the Rental Process

Name: Self Storage Management Software
Brand: 6Storage
Rating: 4.75 (51 reviews)

Tonawanda facility, built in the 90’s, has a total of 210 unit + 10 extra large warehouse units for office, warehouse and storage space. Tonawanda used traditional Excel sheets for rental process but there were concerns over lease records and the manager pocketing payments.

Vacancy rate down from 40% to 3%

100% Accurate Monthly Payment

Less Than 5% Overdue Tenants

Matt, a business consultant transformed Tonawanda to a better facility and this case speaks on how Matt did that. In 2011, Matt was chosen one amongst the 40 business leaders by Business First Newspaper. He was featured as a speaker at TEDx Buffalo 2012. And he was also inducted into the Lancaster Youth Bureau Hall of Fame both as a youth and adult for his community service.

Challenges Faced

Its 2017. Tonawanda Storage holds a vacancy rate of 40%. The manager tracks rental payments on printed Excel Spreadsheet and Clipboards. But are employees cheating the system and taking in revenue?

Furthermore, how do we find tenants consistently? Once we rent a unit, we provide excellent customer service and keep our facility maintained.

What to do first?

Matt’s New Role At Tonawanda

Matt entered the facility 18 months ago and found that out of the 40 vacant units, some of the units were not empty. Contracts were missing and the manager’s records were not accurate.

The manager was fired and Matt took over day to day operations.

Matt had a choice to choose over 4 storage management solutions. He further researched and found 6Storage. Then Matt tested 6Storage along with the other solutions for a month before he settled on 6Storage.

“6Storage pricing is better, the interface works well and support is off the charts”, Matt.

6Storage Solution

Matt wanted to find a simple, easy to use software, with good support, and a price that wouldn’t break the bank.

The best part is, 6Storage allows you to mark units as maintenance, office use etc. and this feature makes it so easy to track offline units. “This makes it easy to spot an employee that rents a unit and has the tenant pay in cash to withhold it from the record.” Matt

The adapting phase was simple. I did face some issues along the way but support was always ready to help me out. In fact, the support response is incredible. Someone responds via chat and then follows up via email.

“I’m happy to see that 6Storage takes their customer’s input and uses it to make the product even better.” Matt.

Recent Developments

In the last 16 months we have tightened up our policies, auctioned off units that fall seriously behind, started charging late fees and turned around a site with an initial vacancy rate of over 20%. The facility is open less hours but it is consistently 98% full with less than 5% overdue tenants.

6Storage vs Traditional Methods
More Specifically

With 6Storage help, we have overhauled our website, saving us time and effort. We will begin taking card payments soon – which will help in productivity.

“6Storage’s Site Map provides an easy, quick glance at the status of the facility…. and makes it easy for a manager/owner to ensure employees are being honest.” Matt.

There are 2 useful features!

Email reminder feature: “Many customers comment that they make payment on time due to the reminder emails , hence reducing our need to make calls.” Matt

And the Automated contracts are so helpful and save time!

Future Plans For Tonawanda

While finding tenants is still a hurdle for us, we’d love help to get us new tenants affordably (or free). We don’t have plans to expand our facility this time and am happy 6Storage is the backbone of our business.

Matt also consults people on storage operation & productivity. Want to reach him? Enter subject as “storage consultant Matt” and send an Email to: mjwbuffalo@gmail.com