Self Storage Marketing - What are we selling and how to best sell it.

Competitively selling tomatoes

Well, how can you differentiate your units from everyone else’s units? The first thing that comes to mind is price. If I sell my tomatoes cheaper than you to I will sell out first and win! Right? Wrong! This is the major weakness of the self storage model, once your facility if full you have no more tomatoes to sell. And you are stuck renting at a reduced rate. And you may have induced your competition into a potential price war! Everyone loses a price war. A $5 a month reduction in rent across a 100 unit facility translates into a $6000 reduction in annual revenue. That’s a lot of tomatoes…

How else can you differentiate your facility. Convenience and top of mind. Yes, it’s true that the tomato analogue falls off a little and the doughnut takes its place. The doughnut is a classic impulse buy. You go get gas, stop in for a cup of coffee, and what's next to the register? A doughnut! So you buy it without shopping because it was there and filled a need. You did not check the price across town, you belly growled and it was there. Done deal. Now think about how many tenants call you saying; “I need a unit today… Can you help me?” They want their doughnut, they want it now, and they want it convenient and fast. This is how you differentiate or doughnut, tomato, or 10x10 reasonably secure box with a roll-up door.

If your tomatoes are easier to buy and pay for, you will sell more of them faster. Every time you have to touch (meet face to face, interact, or converse with) a customer it costs you and them time and money. Imagine, if your customer could find your facility, select their unit, sign their contract, pay their bill all while eating breakfast in their kitchen? Your tomatoes will fly off the vine straight to your customers. You want to be as visible as possible on the World Wide Web. 92% of Americans own cell phones about 90% of those phones are smartphones with data. That means 80% of the US population will use a search engine to find what they are looking for and not the $1200/ add yellow pages. If you want to sell your tomatoes fast you need at least two things: 1. A good looking functional web site, 2. Search Engine Optimization.

Automating Your Business Systems as much as possible is one of the most cost-effective ways to add value to your business, increase profitability, improve record-keeping and fill your units. Having an outstanding management software package will pay huge dividends in a very short time. At this juncture, you may point out that management software will likely cost considerably more than the manure it will take to make my tomatoes larger and more attractive to potential tenants. And manure is exactly what this article is starting to smell like. True, the standard paradigm in the self storage industry is for management software to start around $300 /month for a basic package and go up from there. What if you could get a full service software suit that only costs $29.99 / month (for up to 400 units)? Now that manure is starting to smell like roses!

Game changer, 6Storage has developed a complete solution for exactly that price. What do you get for your $29.99?

• Electronic documents with a digital signature
• Online billing and reservations
• Gate access controls Integrations
• An interactive custom sitemap for my specific for your properties
• Automatic emails to remind tenants for tenants
• Single login for multiple locations
• A secure gateway to credit card processors
• Real live 24 / 7 tech support
• A custom website specific to your business
• SEO support (We could swap this one for security)
• Automatic recurring payments for your customers & more

6Storage will set up your business website, help you load your units, configure your sitemap and get your tomatoes flying out of your basket so fast you will be out of capacity before you know it. This comes with a 60-day trial, free set up support, and a no obligation month to month billing. 6Storage believes in earning your business every day of every month.

Each day your units sit empty is a day you can never charge for. Every time a potential customer that uses a search engine to find your competition is an opportunity you never get back. The self storage industry is a commodity market. Fancy signs, remodeled offices, gorgeous landscaping is all well and good, but none of that is really you helping your customers choose you over your competition. It just means you have a fancier basket for your tomatoes to set in unsold and going to waste.