How to Beat Competition in Self-Storage

Are you concerned about beating the competition in your marketplace? How can you compete against the big guys, such as the REITs and the huge self-storage buildings in your area? If these concerns are keeping you from making a self-storage investment, listen to our podcast about how you can take control of the market. In this podcast, we are going to run through some of the best and easiest ways for you to beat the competition in the self-storage industry.

Competition in Self-Storage

Study Your Competition

The truth of the matter is that big corporations and REITs have a lot of resources, time, and energy. They have a lot of people working for them. These companies might actually have a slight edge in the resource department. With these vast resources, they also leave a paper trail. So, what do you do when your competition does something particularly well? You study their movements as if it were a chess match.

You can implement key marketing strategies to ensure your self-storage facilities out-hustle theirs. You should study their movements with a mindset toward devising creative solutions to the same problems they are having. You can see what your self-storage competitors are doing and where there is room for you to grow your self-storage business.

Consider Partnering with Your Competition

This next point can be particularly important for real estate and self-storage developers. If you are looking for a property to convert or develop into a self-storage facility, you probably want to sell that property in 5 to 7 years. If your self-storage property meets the requirements of the REITs, then they might want to buy it before you take it to the open market. You should not rule out anyone in the self-storage sector because you may find a partner when you need it most- even amongst your competition.

Make Smart Hiring Decisions

Let’s assume for a minute that your self-storage facility is exactly the same as the one across the street. Well, what can help you elevate your facility above your competition? It is the people you hire to do these jobs. Should you hire someone who would be simply passing the hours while working at your customer service desk? Or should you hire a rockstar employee who would put in the effort to make your facility stand out?

The same theory can be applied to your marketing and management teams. You should focus on hiring A+ employees who will make your self-storage building stand out above the rest. To do this, you yourself need to have a set of guidelines and rules that can be applied to help your new employees.

You should focus on motivating your employees to want to help your business. It is essential to give them something to believe in so you can all be on the same page when it comes to your business succeeding and knocking out the competition.

It is also important that you put the right people in the right positions. If you have a current employee who you think would excel at a different position, then place them there and see how they do. You must evaluate employees often and see where they would fit best.

CollaborationKey

Collaboration Can Be Key

Business and professional integrity are important, especially when dealing with your competition. One way you can ensure cooperation is to collaborate with your competitors. For example, if the storage units across the street offer only small units, but you have larger ones available, then set up a referral system. Your competitor can refer customers who need large units to you, and in turn, you can refer customers who need small units to them. It is important to remember that while you might be competitors, you can often help each other.

The Bottom Line

No matter where you open your self-storage facility, there will always be competition. Sometimes you can beat your competition by coming up with creative solutions to marketing or facility problems. You might find solutions by hiring the absolute best people for the job. We recommend following your competition closely and studying their behaviors to identify key factors that make them successful. Learning from your competition might be one of the most important factors to consider.

Don’t let the fear of your competition deter you from becoming a key player in the self-storage facility game!