Self Storage Marketing Tip: Predict periods of low occupancy

Self storage, like any industry, will have its quiet periods. While predicting when a drop will occur sounds like something best left to a fortune teller, it’s actually easier than it sounds – and it all revolves around being intelligent with your data.

One way to predict a drop in occupancy is to view historical data for the prior year (or even the year before, too). This will let you see trends such as dips at certain points in time. If you’re fortunate enough to run Storman’s range of award-winning self storage management software at your facility (or their online reporting add-on), the report you’ll want to run is their appropriately-titled Graph of Occupancy report.

While this is a handy way to view trends, looking back only does so much. Looking forward, using what I call the “crystal ball report”, may also be worthy of some attention – with the Anticipated MoveOuts report being the report of choice in this instance. This report runs off a storer’s anticipated move out date, allowing you to paint a picture of what the future may look like.

If a drop in occupancy is on the horizon, now is a good a time as any to start running some advertising to offset it – be it a Facebook campaign, a reminder of your refer-a-friend program (to your existing customer base), a letterbox drop and so on. As always, if you need a hand – please get in touch or find out more.

NB. Regardless of what report you run, they’re only as good as the data you enter – so always make sure staff are following correct procedures in this regard.