Dean Booty 2 - SSA UK › media › 2599 › dean.pdf · revenue(Not great I know … Im working on it) •I can guarantee you… hackingselfstorage.co.uk Customer Demographic •According

08/10/2019

1

[email protected] www.linkedin.com/in/deanbooty Hacking Self Storage

hackingselfstorage.co.uk

To Automate or not to automate … That is the question

• I’m not here to say automation is bad or it doesn’t have a place

• The truth lies somewhere in the middle


There is a place for automation within the storage industry

• But, If there is one thing you take away from today its - Please dont automate your customer care

• For your customers to care about you, you have to care about them first

• Its much much harder to do this with automation

1

2

3

08/10/2019

2


Lets look at the pros and cons of a Fully

Automated site


For me a fully automated site has some concerns



• Perceived Security Risk

• Undesirables checking in

• Missing out on Insurance

Revenue

• Lower Merchandise sales

FULLY AUTOMATED

CONS

9

4

5

6

08/10/2019

3


• Missing out on walk-insHelping your customer

• Referrals … I’ll get to that in a minute

• Marketing to our current demographic

• Making a genuine connection

FULLY AUTOMATED

CONS

9


SECURITY … This is the big one!

• With the technology on offer we know its safe

• Its all about the perception of the customer that counts


Undesirables renting units at 3am

• Possibly - possibly not

• But its all about the perception

• We all feel safer in a manned facility regardless of what the stats say

7

8

9

08/10/2019

4


Product Knowledge is low in the industry

• How many customers come in and have no idea what size unit they need?

• Im glad you asked … I have some stats on this


• Only 9% of people said they knew exactly what size they needed

Cushm an and W akefield asked self storage customers

Was choosing your size easy?

• 74% of people said - Yes, the staff helped me with the size I needed

• Only 11% got all the information I needed online

Its our job to educate, support and help our customershackingselfstorage.co.uk

Its our job to educate, support and help our customersIts our job to educate, support and help our customersIts our job to educate, support and help our customersIts our job to educate, support and help our customers


Insurance

• 18% of our total revenue comes from insurance

• We train our staff so customers adequately insure their goods

• Customers will automatically choose the cheapest option

10

11

12

08/10/2019

5


Merchandise

• Locks, boxes, tape etc

• It accounts for 3% of my total revenue (Not great I know … Im working on it)

• I can guarantee you…


Customer Demographic

• According to the SSA Report 71% of self storage customers are

• 40 - 69 Years Old

• 44% Of customers are between 50 - 65 Years Old

• Market to your audience, ask yourself what they want


Walk‐In customers

• Last month in our indoor facility we had 11 Walk‐Ins

• We moved in 8 of these

• Thats … a conversion rate of 73%

• You are giving away your highest converting quotes - Face to Face

13

14

15

08/10/2019

6


My LTV of a customer is £1205, so that means with an automated site I could of missed out on ….

8 Move ins x £1205 = £9,640(based on average life time value of a customer)


The big one …..

• The chance to build a rapport with your customers!

• The more we speak directly with our customers the more they will -Knowing you, Liking You and Trusting You and thats the foundation for a great relationship


A - build a rapport with the customer and

B - Ask for them!

LastlyReviews

• We all know how important social proof is, we all have it on our website

Reviews are far more likely if you -

• You cant do either effectively if you aren't meeting your customers

• Greg Merrilees 5 must haveshackingselfstorage.co.uk

16

17

18

08/10/2019

7


FULLY AUTOMATED

PROS

• Less staff costs - Agree but at what cost

• More efficient and convenient -Hmm if you dont want to build rapport, yes

• Faster Move Ins - Yes but we have no connection with the customer


Gartner.com that says unmanned and fully automated sites increase revenue by 10%

• But thats America …

The Self Storage Industry is fully matured

• Some figures to back this up …..

• UK is in its infancy


According to the SSA 2019 Report

• 82% of people asked

say they nor their

family have ever used

Self Storage before

19

20

21

08/10/2019

8


57% Can not name a self storage in their area

• Less than half the people asked have

a good knowledge of self storage

• Our customers don’t fully understand

the industry


Case Study

• A fully automated container site opened up in-between my 2 facilities

• My indoor facilities had only been open 12 months … I was worried

• I did what any good business man would of done …. I rang my dad


• Their marketing and website on point

• Lovely plot, great location everything looked good

• Room for 200 x 20ft containers


22

23

24

08/10/2019

9


• They have just 36 containers on their site

• Thats an average of 240 Net Sq ft growth per month

• Fast forward 2 years, Ive been open 36 months they have been opened 24 months


• How do we compare

• We have grown by an average of over 750 sq ft per month

• Thats an increase of 200%



Offer automation but don't solely rely on it

• Focus on training your staff to become customer care ninjas

• Add automation as well as, not instead of


25

26

27

08/10/2019

10


• Life is about creating relationships.

• Fully Automated sites hinder this not help it

• Travis on my podcast



I want to end with a real life case study

• I go back to my original point

"DONT AUTOMATE CUSTOMER

CARE" and here is why

• Last month we had 6 customers

that moved in through referralshackingselfstorage.co.uk

No PPC, NO SEO, No Facebook ads, No cleaver retargeting, just referrals

• Our customers have a lifetime value of ….


28

29

30

08/10/2019

11


v£1,205hackingselfstorage.co.uk


6 Move insfrom referrals equals ….

v£7,230in lifetime value


Can you imagine if we achieved this every month

• 6 totally new customers from referrals each month would be

• £7,230 (Total lifetime value of the 6 customers) x 12 months

31

32

33

08/10/2019

12


v£86,760hackingselfstorage.co.uk


The beauty is it cost us NOTHING to acquire the customers

• My average cost to acquire a customer through PPC on Google is £97


It feels so good when a customer comes looking for you, rather than the other way round

• What's the cost ….

• Just care … To really care about our customers

34

35

36

08/10/2019

13


• Im not saying you wont get referrals from a fully automated store

• I am saying you get more referrals when you connect person to person

• People remember interactions with people not computers


• Asda, Mcdonalds and Airlines all have automated sections

• BUT, even though these are mature industries they still aren't fully automated

• People remember the extra mile you went, not automation


37

38

39

08/10/2019

14


Engage and go the extra mile for customers

• The aim should be to make every customer a walking talking advert for our facilities

• Make customers your sales people


Conclusion

• Automation will have a role to play in this industry

• Focus on your customers not automation. This will have the biggest impact!

• Dont fully automate …. Yet … The industry isn't ready

40

41

Documents

Dean Booty 2 - SSA UK › media › 2599 › dean.pdf · revenue(Not great I know … Im working on it) •I can guarantee you… hackingselfstorage.co.uk Customer Demographic •According