Craig Hall
2007 MANAGER OF THE YEAR

Dim the lights, cue the orchestra, and hand over the envelope, please! With a record number of entries, Self Storage Now’s 2007 Manager of the Year contest boasted some of the most impressive managers seen in the history of the award. However, there were three standout managers who stole the show this year. With a commitment to leadership, creativity, high occupancy rates, low delinquencies, and overall business success, Self Storage Now is proud to name Craig Hall of Stor-It of Los Gatos our 2007 Manager of the Year.

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With his winning personality and an outstanding work ethic, Craig Hall has what it takes to bring home the gold in this year’s Manager of the Year contest. “Craig never stops to amaze me,” says Christine Petersen, general manager of Stor-It of Los Gatos. “He has the best customer service skills. A couple of weeks ago, a customer came in with a 20 foot truck that wouldn’t fit into the facility. So, Craig takes our company moving truck, unloads everything into it himself, drives it onto the property and helps the customer unload it into his unit.”

These numbers are impressive
considering that Stor-It of Los Gatos boasts
higher than average rental rates ...

Hall is well-known for always putting his customers first. He has been known to use the company truck to personally deliver moving supplies and boxes to customers whose own vehicles were too small to carry the load. He also began accepting deliveries for drug reps and other customers who indicated that the service would make their jobs easier. “We try to work with people,” says Hall. “The idea is that we always want to have something extra to add.”

At Stor-It of Los Gatos, competition is tough, so constant marketing is essential to the facility’s success. “Our store is a block or two away from the main street, which can be a problem,” says Hall. The self storage store is buried away out of sight and literally butts up against a competing facility. Moreover, there is another nationally known self storage company just down the road. This means Hall had to work especially diligently to bring customers to the store. “When giving directions, we never take customers by our competitors,” says Hall. “Instead, we take them through a one way street that sometimes requires them to literally go out of their way to get here.”

With its slightly out-of-the-way location, Hall decided early on that he had to commit to actively marketing the company and its unique features and benefits rather than just sitting in the office and renting storage spaces. To get the Stor-It of Los Gatos name out, Hall became an active member of the local Rotary Club, which recently surprised him with an award for his many acts of community service.

He also takes the company’s moving truck to numerous community events and is careful to park it where passersby can clearly see the Stor-It of Los Gatos name. In addition, Hall is involved with other local organizations such as the school district, Cancer Society, and chamber of commerce. When he’s not working with charitable and community-based organizations, Hall hits the streets for some good old-fashioned door-to-door marketing in nearby neighborhoods.

In fact, Hall is always keeping his eyes open for new opportunities, keeping the business in the forefront of his mind. He recently helped a new customer move into the store, and later discovered the tenant was the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers. Naturally, Hall was quick to ask the football star for a photo. Of course, the Hall, didn’t request the photo for himself. Instead, he talked the quarterback into allowing the company to use his photo in a new advertising campaign for the store.  

Hall’s marketing acumen and commitment to customer service have obviously paid off handsomely for Stor-It of Los Gatos. Since becoming the store’s manager, Hall has posted some amazing numbers. He has taken the facility from an occupancy rate of 30 percent to more than 85 percent.

Hall also orchestrated a huge increase in the store’s wine storage business. “The wine storage occupancy was about 67 percent; now it’s up to 94 percent,” says Petersen. “Plus, our delinquencies are at zero. Craig calls the customers and e-mails them to remind them to pay their rent, so we have no receivables.”

These numbers are impressive considering that Stor-It of Los Gatos boasts higher than average rental rates, with most tenants paying about $2.25 per square foot each month. Hall is able to keep prices up because he constantly watches the competition and monitors the self storage marketplace. In fact, he surveys all of the area’s competing facilities every week just to keep an eye on pricing.

The result of all of these efforts is that the store has adopted a truly unique pricing strategy. Stor-It of Los Gatos utilizes a pricing range that includes both a high rental price and a low rental price rather than a set price for each unit size. This approach gives staff members the flexibility they need to sign as many new customers as possible without ever losing a sale because of a few dollars’ difference over competitor’s rates.

Although his numbers are consistently high, Hall is always working to improve both the facility and the company’s bottom line. “He treats the business like it’s his own,” says Petersen. He sees no boundaries and is always looking for creative new ways to increase income at the site.

One of Hall’s most ambitious projects involved finding a profitable use for a rarely utilized on-site business center. Searching on his own, he found a company that was willing to rent the area for use as an office. This brought added income into the business at virtually no cost to Stor-It of Los Gatos. 

Hall performed a similar business feat when we realized that several of the facility’s covered parking spaces consistently sat empty. When the store was originally constructed, the city required a high number of parking spaces—more spaces than the store’s customers could ever use at one time. Hall thought there might be an opportunity hidden in these empty parking places, so he began to offer the spaces as vehicle storage rentals to his own customer base.

“I opened up 20 bays, and within two months, I had all the spaces filled with a waiting list,” Hall says. “Then, I gave a rate increase.” These kinds of increases have led to more income and a better bottom line for Stor-It of Los Gatos. They have also helped established Hall as a top-notch self storage manager who is not afraid to take a risk to ensure that his facility stays in the forefront with profits and success.

Tamara White, manager of Missouri Flat Storage Depot in Placerville, Calif., has been quick to establish herself as one of the best managers in the self storage business. Only 24, she manages four employees, and although she is younger than most facility managers, her outgoing personality and creative marketing efforts have won over any doubters as to her abilities. In fact, they have helped her claim Self Storage Now’s 2007 Manager of the Year Runner-Up award.

“Tamara is really young, but she’s also very well known in the small town where she works,” says Carol Krendl, vice president of Lodi, Calif.-based Excellence in Management Group, Inc., which manages the facility. Customers enjoy being around White and often drop by just to say hello. She, in turn, knows all her customers by name and unit number.

White has been with Missouri Flat Storage Depot since it opened in 2004, and she was largely responsible for the site’s quick rent-up. “Her occupancy rates are in the 93 percent to 94 percent range,” says Krendl. “When you look at her economic occupancy, it is extremely close to the store’s actual occupancy. Every time she gets close to 100 percent, she raises rates.”

With her strong marketing skills and
winning personality, White consistently receives
high mystery shopping scores ...

“I re-evaluate rates as much as I can,” says White. “I usually do it once a month or so. I also see what other people are charging and I mystery shop their stores to see their level of customer service and find areas where we can improve.”

As a result of this contact with other self storage facilities, White soon befriended another manager at a local competitor’s site, and both agreed to help each other by referring customers their own stores could not accommodate. White quickly expanded the program to include other “friends” at local businesses. Today, Missouri Flat Storage Depot receives referrals from several businesses, including local moving companies, apartment buildings, and real estate agencies.

White also has a strong connection with local law enforcement officials. “They train their K-9s here and they also work traffic by our store,” she says. Many law enforcement officers are also renters at the store, so there is always a strong police presence at the site. Customers appreciate the added feeling of safety and security the police bring.

Ancillary sales are also an important focus for White. She set up a FedEx^® pickup and drop-off point at Missouri Flat Storage Depot and now sells a minimum of $3,000 per month in moving and packing supplies. “Our high sales numbers are due to our merchandising and getting the word out that we sell moving supplies,” says White.

White is constantly handing out flyers and pamphlets and is actively involved with several charitable organizations. She hosted a Toys for Tots drop site at her store and is a member of the local chamber of commerce. In addition, she allows the Sheriff’s Department to use the facility’s moving truck when they need it to carry out some type of charity work.

With her strong marketing abilities and winning personality, White consistently achieves high mystery shopping scores, and she has a top-notch closing ratio as well. She has used her skills to help build a highly successful team at Missouri Flat Storage Depot, and thus her company has made her a designated trainer for the Excellence in Management Group.

White knows that the solid training she’s given others—and has received—has helped both her and her company achieve success. “I have the most awesome team,” she says. “I love my job and the community, and my management company trained me well.”

Selected as a 2007 Manager of the Year Runner-Up, Jenny Rodrigues manages a staff of six at one of the most unusual self storage sites in the self storage industry. A one-of-a-kind facility, Waikele Self Storage was built by creating units in side of several caves that formerly housed a military bunker. “The property is high security,” says Peter Cannon, president of Waikele Self Storage. “The “B Row” area had super-sensitive munitions rumored to be nuclear missiles.”

This unusual site presents some unique management challenges. Considering its past use as a top secret bunker, it’s no surprise to learn that the facility is in a well-hidden location. Unfortunately, that makes it difficult for customers to spot today.

“Marketing is a challenge here,” says Rodrigues. “We’re not visible. We’re down in a gulch and not on a main street.” Rodrigues began working for Waikele Self Storage before the facility was up and running. In July 2005, she was working out of the back of her car with a laptop and printer, signing up renters. She landed her first customer and has been steadily renting up the property ever since. In fact, the facility continues to add units as the “caves” are filled with renters.

Nevertheless, marketing is a constant challenge; to say that Waikele Self Storage has a visibility problem is an understatement. “We have zero street presence,” Cannon explains. “We were camouflaged by the military, so we can’t even be seen in the air. I would say that we have less street presence than any other self storage facility. But Jenny put our name out there and put us on the map.”

To compensate for the location, Rodrigues has worked diligently to market and advertise her facility. Customers began coming in once the word was out, however, not everyone liked what they saw at first. “If you saw our appearance before and after we opened, you’d be amazed,” says Cannon. One of the biggest problems was an overgrown area bordering the property, and the gulch itself was also full of overgrown foliage. “We had instances where women would drive down to our facility and turn around and drive away because it looked so bad,” Canon recalls.

The company hired several people to help clear out weeds and brush, but the project was slow and expensive. But Rodrigues found a unique, money-saving solution to the problem: goats! The goats stayed on the property for three months. Not only was the experiment a success, customers loved them and gave them names. In another overgrown area, Jenny brought in horses to help with the clean-up.

The makeover was a big success and Waikele Self Storage began to rent up quickly. In July alone, Rodrigues signed 103 new customers, many of whom were military personnel getting ready for a deployment. She believes relationship building is the key. “Once I meet someone, they’re family,” Rodrigues says. “In Hawaii, we’re all family, and I do what I can to keep that family relationship going.”

Elizabeth Ferrin is a freelance writer and Editor based in Maple Grove, Minnesota. She is a frequent contributor to Self Storage Now and Mini Storage Messenger.