Tips for Better Self Storage Management

As with the majority of other businesses, the success of your self storage business largely depends on how effective it’s managed. While there are a variety of technological aids with flashy bells and whistles, you should always stick with these management fundamentals. That being said, here are the 5 business fundamentals of effective self storage management.

Proper Employee Training

Being a manager isn’t just having more work - you shoulder the burden and responsibility of making sure the entire facility runs smoothly. Effective employees are key to a smooth business. Bring out the best from your staff by training them properly. With a complete and comprehensive training scheme, you won’t have to constantly worry about their behavior. You have fewer fires to put out as your staff will be trained to prevent mistakes. An effective manager doesn’t control every aspect of their employees’ behavior, but delegates them appropriately, and trusts that they can handle the tasks given to them.

Implement and Stick to Routines

As with any business, self storage sometimes is a hectic endeavor, with the amount of documentation needed and careful understanding of legal minutia. Putting effective routines into place ensures that you stay efficient and get the work done. Sticking to these routines means you’ll get more and more effective at them, having them become second nature, and ensure you commit minimal errors.

Be Proactive, Not Reactive

Another key virtue of an effective manager is being proactive. Managers shouldn’t fret too much about dealing with customer complaints; these should mainly be in the domain of well-trained employees. Instead, managers should focus on preventing errors in the first place. Error prevention takes many shapes, such as having comprehensive employee training or having backup plans for when certain processes or hardware fail. Effective managers commit their effort to keep everything running smoothly, rather than being the person your employees turn to fix things when they don’t.

Set Realistic Targets, and Track Them

With no clear vision (targets) that drives its improvement, a business tends to stagnate. Targets take a variety of forms such as financial, occupancy rates and improvements in customer service. Targets should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound - or SMART. You’ll have to strike the balance between having ambitious targets you think will propel the success of your business while keeping them grounded enough to make them manageable. Further, you shouldn’t just abandon your targets after you’ve set them. Constantly track their progress, check up on the ones performing well and work on the ones that need more attention. Keeping a watchful eye on performance gives you valuable insight into where your business is succeeding and what you need to improve.             

Implement Technology

Given what we mentioned earlier, this might sound counter-intuitive, but it would be foolish to not mention the benefits of technology. Certain automation improvements are extremely helpful for boosting management of your facility. Software solutions keep your workplace clear of clutter, by putting all your tasks, your staff’s tasks along with all the paperwork in a single place. Automation minimises human error and streamlines customer service. Pair them up with all the tips so far and you’ll get self-storage management at its best. However, be careful not to be overdependent on technology in replacing effective management itself. Technology is great for extra aid, but you’re the one keeping up best management practices to fully implement its potential.

All in all, effective management to better run a business. You learn more and more with every experience and develop your own brand of effective management. These tips will be helpful in guiding your management decisions, but are also just the tip of the iceberg of self-storage management content we’re preparing.

Managing Your Self Storage With Storeganise

At Storeganise we manage every aspect of your self storage service, you and your team can implement routines and automate tasks for more efficient business management. This includes online booking, tenant management, monthly billing, tracking occupancy rates, and much more.

Get a firsthand look by booking a personalised demo.

Related Article: Choosing the Right Self-Storage Management Software