Becoming the Market Leader
March 7, 2013
Can you believe springtime is upon us! Wow, every year seems to go faster. From my self-storage consulting travels it seems like the self-storage industry is on it’s way back. We held up well compared to other commercial real estate types. I have noticed a difference between those self-storage operators who took the “downturn in the economy†seriously and made improvements in their operations. They seem to be more poised for the “comeback†in the economy and have taken more advantage of the consumer spending more money on renting a storage unit. My recommendation would be for all of us to “step up†our game and make on-going improvements to our systems, people, training, marketing, sales and customer service. These are areas within your operations that will transfer over to the customer and will set you apart from the competition. If you don’t have a formal training program in place, you need to develop one. For example, we have really focused on customer service training this past year and it is paying off. We just came off our best year (between our 10 locations) and have noticed our customer referrals, repeat customers and current customers adding a storage unit improve. This is the strongest return on “marketing dollar†we can have! It is the perfect time to make improvements and become the leader in your marketplace. I believe many of you have the opportunity to become the price leader in your area. It will take hard work and a concentrated focus on equipping yourself to become the best!