Owning a Successful Self Storage Business
-
Storage facilities are successful when the owner does the little things right. You may be thinking about getting into the Connaught self storage industry, but there are some things that you should know first. A lot of people think that it is easy money. In the past, this may have been true. You just buy some land, put up a building and collect the rent money. Tough competition and market saturation have led to a Connaught self storage environment that is only profitable for the very best. The big companies may have the edge on you because of deep pockets, but there are some ways to ensure quality without breaking the bank.
The first mistake that many storage professionals in Alberta will make is to assume that location is not the most important thing. Most people renting storage state location is the most significant determining buying factor. This can be a little misleading. People do tend to rent storage units at Connaught self storage facilities that are close to their homes, but you will still miss a lot of sales if you make mistakes. Make sure that you have a clean facility. Many people see storage as dirty so you need to make sure that you routinely clean your property. This is cheap, but time consuming. Do not make the mistake of being lazy when it comes to taking care of your property. It is very similar to keeping a clean house. Just do a little bit of cleaning each day so that you are never overwhelmed.
Every storage owner wants a lot of customers, but most are not equipped for that many Connaught self storage customers. If you are offering a good service to the community, the word will spread. Do not just sit on your money, you can grab a lot more of the market share if you continue to build and expand your storage facility. You may go with what you can afford when you first start, but be careful not to have cheap units. Cheap units leak and cause damage due to molds and mildews. You will develop a reputation in your area one way or another. You just want to make sure that you have a good company image. A bad company image will doom you to failure. If you have many customers in Alberta, you will only hold on to them for so long if you offer bad quality. For example, instead of building a hundred cheap units, start out with fifty quality units. This will set your storage operation up for long term success.
The average Connaught self storage customer will rent more than three times in their lifetime. That means that you need to impress and delight your customers when they rent with you. The status quo will not get the job done. You will need to exceed expectations in order to gain repeat customers. You will also get a lot of referrals if you delight customers. Birds of a feather flock together as they say. If someone needs a storage unit, then most likely they will know other people who will need storage in the future. Referrals are easy sales. They typically will only make one phone call unlike those who are just shopping around since all storage facilities are the same to them.
Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.
