Remote Tech: It's Not Just For Remote Operations!

Smart units, call centers, and access control systems provide data that can make you a better operator, which also strengthens your bottom line. In today’s highly competitive market, modern technology that is easily available and deployed gives you the edge you need.  

Solving Staff Challenges  

“Our data opens incredible efficiencies for the operator,” say Rob Kapp and Mason Shaw, founders of Keep It Simple Storage (KISS), which they describe as “advanced technology to service and support all customer needs while cutting overhead costs and supporting the bottom line.”  

Kapp, who also owns the American South Storage portfolio in Charlotte, N.C., frequently hears about self-storage owners going through two or three COOs, vice presidents of operations, or district managers. They keep having the same outcome: ops leaders who were “ragged, worn down, mentally drained.”

A review of jobs advertised on LinkedIn underscores that there are a lot of openings in self-storage for these operations positions. This appears to be a failure point in the industry. It’s a hard job, full of difficult issues with staff, tenants, tech, etc.  

Remote tech helps resolve this bottleneck by institutionalizing and “technologizing” knowledge and processes. You no longer have to rely on one person who knows the lien laws and understands the nuances from state to state. You can use software like AI Lean to automate the lien process for you and increase revenue, because it also focuses on collections.   

Instead of surveying the competition to ask about rates and occupancy, like owners have asked managers to do for decades, data services like Radius+, Yardi Matrix, and StorTrack automatically do that daily, giving you real-time, accurate data on your competition.  

Technology designed to evaluate supply and demand can then make data-driven adjustments to rates. Software like Prorize and Veritec can adjust rates automatically to match the market, according to the parameters you set. If your inventory of 10-by-10s is low and competitors’ rates for them are high, the asking rate can be automatically adjusted up to increase margin. If you have a plethora of 5-by-5s and competitors’ rates for them are low, the asking rate can be automatically adjusted down to attract renters.  

Valuable Data 

Having the right technology for tenant calls is critical. The SSA’s 2023 Self-Storage Demand Study confirms what we already know: Most people rent from the first facility they contact. If you don’t answer the phone, you won’t get that rental. “From a technology perspective, you need a call center than can rent. No one leaves a message,” says Jon Loftin, chief product officer at OpenTech Alliance. “You can spend money on SEO and other services, but people call—42 percent of them—so you have to answer the phone.”  

In addition to renting space and serving customers well, call center technology gives you data about: 

• The nature of the calls
• How many calls you receive
• How long it takes for calls to be answered
• How long the calls last
• How calls are handled 

Did they result in new rentals? Were payments received? Were additional units rented to existing customers? Did you know about the move-outs instead of being surprised? Were they calls to get information, like a gate code, the amount due, or office and access hours? Were they calls to report problems such as maintenance issues or tenant protection or insurance claims?  

If you have the right solutions in place, conveniently accessible without friction, many of these problems can be solved before the customer has to pick up the phone. Analyzing call data enables you to present tenant solutions where and when they need them, so they don’t have to call to report problems. This proactive approach strengthens your business in many ways, especially customer satisfaction.  

Access Control Data  

Your access control system provides valuable data. According to Loftin, cloud-based assess control systems track when people enter and exit, how long they stay, and how often they visit. With such data, you can tell what percentage of tenants visit at what frequency.  

Not only does this help you staff the facility appropriately, but this data also gives you valuable information for the next time you go in front of local planning and zoning decision-makers. Your hard data about frequency of customer visits could save you money and headaches when you remodel, expand, or build a new facility. Municipal authorities do not have self-storage traffic data. Instead, they want to apply data from other businesses with higher traffic counts to your business. That increases your impact fees, parking spaces required, and potentially other expenses. Providing your own hard data to prove your actual traffic count is powerful with local decision-makers.  

Another benefit of modern access control systems is reducing accounts receivable and delinquency. When a delinquent tenant comes to the keypad, triggers you set in your software should lock them out. If your technology can text them a link to pay, they can proceed to their unit, and you collect rent due without additional collection effort.  

Loftin says OpenTech access control also helps you with tenants who forget their access code. They can enter their mobile phone number, and if it matches what is on file, they can get the code. This feature solves a very common customer problem and prevents a significant amount of customer calls—all of which save you time and money while enhancing your customer experience. It’s a win-win.  

Smart Data 

In addition to improving customer convenience and enabling remote management, smart locks and other technology can turn traditional units into smart units that track data. They log every time a unit is opened and closed. Either smart lock technology or added tech like Storage Defender can send an alert for suspicious usage. This tech also collects data that indicates unreported move-outs, failed access attempts, and other anomalies. You can use this data to find out if a space has been vacated and rent them out sooner or solve problems that make the spaces unrentable.  

Storage Defender is an affordable, easy way to turn traditional units into smart units. For a low, upfront investment, you can buy Storage Defender units and offer them to tenants in any unit, or place them in all of your units. These devices notify your customer any time their space is accessed.  

The SSA’s 2023 Demand Study shows that tenants are willing to pay more for such technology. Storage Defender data shows that this tech generates 10 percent to 15 percent in ancillary revenue. At this rate, Storage Defender rivals tenant protection as the best ancillary stream of revenue, without any claims to adjust and pay.    

Speaking of claims, facility-wide use of this technology increases peace of mind for tenants, operators, and owners because it decreases crime, so you have fewer claims for tenant protection or insurance and commercial insurance.   

There are many other consumer benefits of smart units using technology like Nokē, KISS, OpenTech, and others. For instance, tenants can share temporary access with friends, family, delivery services, etc.  

With KISS tech, they can manage their account in the KISS app, from paying their bill to changing profile details.  

KISS reports that their smart lock is successful with 98 percent of self-storage customers. Only a scant 2 percent of customers just can’t learn how to use the digital lock. That’s OK, there are disc locks for them, so everyone is happy.  

One of the reasons for this high success rate is that KISS locks do not use electricity, batteries, bluetooth, or facility-wide networks. They use the same NFC (near field communication) tap technology you use to pay at Starbucks or the grocery store, avoiding all the failure points of tech that depends on other sources of power or connection. Did you know your smart phone could transfer energy to a lock to open it?  

Meet Customers Where They Are 

Robert Chiti, CEO of OpenTech, has been saying for years that you have to meet your customer where they are, on their channel of choice. If they call, you have to answer it. If they use your chat bot, it has to have the right answers. If they text, you have to have SMS functionality (and permission). If they drive up, you have to be able to interact with them, in person, on the phone, through a kiosk, or via a two-way video call.  

Neither technology nor human beings can provide all of these solutions, but you can craft a combination of high tech and high touch for your business to win customers, run more efficiently, and increase profits. 

All of your tech provides data on customer interaction. The data tells you what your customers need and want. Use the data remote tech provides to improve your customer experience and stand out from the competition.  

Your combination of high tech and high touch elevates your customers’ experience with your business, increasing their satisfaction and length of stay, as well as their likelihood of referring you to others and returning to you when they need storage again in the future.  

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Anne Mari DeCoster is a self-storage professional with over two decades experience in all aspects of development and operations, from concept to exit. She provides consulting in strategic planning and specializes in the design, development, and delivery of new products, services, programs, and companies. DeCoster provides training on a wide variety of subjects, including customer experience, sales, communication, and leadership. See more at DecosterConsulting.com.