Managing Your Self-Storage Facility is a Critical Component of Success

When you are looking for a manager for your self-storage facility, you need to remember that there are different kinds of managers. There are the caretakers. These are the managers who simply collect the rent, make sure the units stay clean, rent out new units and report maintenance issues. Anyone can do this for you.

Then there are the managers who have a little more responsibility. They do what the caretakers do, but they also manage your social media presence. They make sure that you are advertising in the right places, and they can even take care of the books and provide you with weekly reports. If you have good software, they can keep things updated and you can access the information any time you want from anywhere.

However, no manager can be successful without training. You need to make sure that you have been behind the counter of your self-storage facility at some point in your career so that you know what to expect. You need to be familiar with the systems and software. You need to know what to expect from your manager or you will never know if they are meeting your expectations.

While you are behind the counter, track what you do and create systems that your manager can replicate. These training manuals will not only be great references for your new hires, but they will also be a way for you to make sure that all of your facilities are run the exact same way. This way you will know which facilities are running better than others. If you have different styles at each self-storage facility, you won’t know what is working and what isn’t.

When you are hiring your manager, make sure that you take the time to find someone that will be an asset to you and your facility. You don’t want to hire the first candidate. You want to hire someone that will fit into your culture and someone who will take the time to help your property thrive. You may be able to incentivize this by allowing them to get bonuses as they achieve various bonuses.

Take the time to find a good manager and put the systems in place. In the long run, this will be a huge benefit. As always, happy investing.