Having great security systems at your self storage facilities will help you upsell your units while remaining (or transitioning to an) automated self storage model.
Robust security tools are shown to improve both the security of your self storage facilities as well as the user experience. Access control—that is, access to both the facility and the units within—is the most obvious point to improve your customer’s journey. Thankfully, the same technology you employ to secure your facilities often overlaps with and improves access.
Let’s look at how you can secure your facilities, upsell your units due to advanced security, improve access control with the right technology, and then use all of that to make it even easier to run them remotely!
Whenever we look to make changes, the first thing to do is to consider what these changes will fix or improve.
Chasing new ideas and technology and making changes just for the sake of making changes is a surefire way to run into trouble, even when it comes to storage unit security.
Not only will you run the risk of frustrating or alienating your customers or your team, but you also run the risk of wasting a lot of money.
Every business, even every self storage business, is a different animal with different nuances. What works at one might not work for another, and it can even vary at the level of implementation.
So what does this have to do with self storage?
Well, it means that we need to identify your business’s pain points and how they can be solved. And in many cases, the modern self storage facility's pain points can be addressed by some form of self storage software.
Some common self storage pain points that can be solved by advanced security software and systems include:
That’s not all, though!
While these pain points might reflect on the self storage operator, there’s another group to represent in our self storage planning: the tenant.
So, what are some of our tenants’ pain points we can address with the right security technology?
In many ways, these also overlap with your own pain points. They can often be solved with the same technology, too!
Access control is probably one of the most basic aspects of a self storage business. It’s certainly the starting point when it comes to your self storage facility’s security.
The way you control access to your property and to your individual self storage units can have a huge impact on how you run your business.
More importantly, it makes one of the largest differences in your facilities’ security and preventing self storage break-ins.
At a basic level, you probably already know what access control means: controlling access to your facility via a gate. There’s more to it than just that, though!
Does your gate use a traditional lock and key or does it use a keypad? Have you ditched analog methods entirely and gone to Bluetooth or app-controlled access (after all, more than 85% of Americans have a smartphone these days)? Does your self storage gate software integrate with your PMS so that you can easily assign and track gate codes?
Does that about cover it?
Not even close.
Does each floor in your self storage facility have individual access rights so that a tenant can only access the floor where they rent a storage unit? Do you have different sections in your property that are gated based on a tenant’s unit location? Do your storage units use traditional locks, or have you upgraded them to digital locks that use Bluetooth or app-controlled access?
Here are common ways you can control access to your facility and units:
The best part is that upgrading your access control also solves the main pain point that your tenants likely have: ease of access. These more secure methods of access control lend themselves to a more convenient customer experience.
Some of this might not apply to your facilities. Some of it might only apply to some of your facilities. But depending on your level of concern regarding the security of your property, you probably want to consider whether or not you need to take your access control to the next level.
After all, it’s the front line of security systems at your self storage facility.
Be honest: Are you able to easily track who is accessing your facilities and when they are doing so?
Whether you run a completely automated self storage business or you use a hub-and-spoke business model with multiple remote facilities that are unattended, it’s important to be able to monitor and track access to your facility. It’s also important to know what is happening inside your fence (or walls) when no one is around.
If you’re using a traditional lock and key, you’re left to rely on scanning hours of camera footage to have any hope of tracking who is going in and out of your facility and what they’re doing.
Picture this, instead:
A car pulls up to your facility hours away from your office. They use your mobile app to open the gate—you can see that from your computer, and it tells you exactly who it is.
Once they park, they enter one of your buildings. Your access control system tells you exactly what building and what time they enter it. You can see they took about five minutes to get from their car to the access point, which is pretty average.
There’s something wrong at this point, though: ten minutes have gone by and they still haven’t unlocked their unit with the app.
Are they having trouble? Are they causing trouble?
You pull up your camera feed and see them struggling with their phone, unable to get the lock to open. Crisis averted—they’re not up to no good.
Bonus? You know exactly who it is thanks to your security system logging the unique access, so you give them a call on the cell number in their file to help them, noting that you see they’ve had a few failed attempts to unlock their storage unit.
This is part of the power that a smart self storage facility brings you as an operator.
The right security system makes monitoring your remote facilities a breeze. Better yet, it helps you deliver the best service you possibly can!
Let’s recap.
A great security system with modern technology helps you keep track of what’s going on even when you’re not on the property.
A great security system enables you to run multiple unattended facilities remotely.
A great security system makes life easier on you and your tenants, improving the overall work and customer experience.
By now, you might have pieced together what we’re about to cover: By choosing the right security system for your self storage business, you’re creating greater peace of mind for you and your tenants.
Even better than that, the convenience and peace of mind you generate unlock potential for greater financial gains.
You’re staying on top of your competition by improving your customer’s experience and helping them feel like their belongings are safe in your self storage facilities. This allows you to upsell your storage units or even create a value-based pricing model with units featuring different levels of security.
All of that is a side effect of employing a self storage security system that makes the job of running your remote facilities easier.
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