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New to storage or looking for a heads-up?Posted by Wayne on 8th May 2009

What are some of the most damaging issues we have identified that are faced by people who are new to the industry? Are you new to storage, or perhaps looking at getting into it, and wanting a “heads-up”?

For lots of reasons there are people getting involved at the front line of a storage business with little knowledge of computers, the industry, or the software (StorMan). Some are employees, and some are owners. Many, many times I have seen someone new to storage receive StorMan training, and yet still they still have no idea how to do the job. If this describes how you feel, then take a deep breath, relax, and smile – you are amongst friends.

I personally know how it feels to be shown something “here”, and then not be able to do the job because of something happening over “there” which I have never experienced before, and which was not covered in my ‘training’.

 

Storage is a relatively simple business in concept. People need secure space to store stuff, our industry provides that space. But there is lots of devil in the detail. Which tenants are desirable and why? How is the space secured? What is involved in a Rental Agreement, the legalities of the industry, business issues such as compliance, marketing, and sales? What is the best policy when it comes to late fees, lock outs, letters, emails, on line payments, automatic payments, pro-rata of fees, move ins, move outs, discount policies and procedures? There are some units you can discount, and some you shouldn’t. Why? For someone with experience, it is all second nature.

Without experience, this business can feel like going for a country drive, on a foggy day, over a mountain range, with sheer drops left, right, and centre, and a minimum speed limit of 100mp/h. It can all be quite scary, disheartening, and very bad for one’s confidence. Further, these good people need not feel it is their fault, although many do. Not a good feeling, nor a good thing.

 

StorMan wants to help, although for reasons beyond StorMan’s control, there is no “silver bullet”. How can someone learn to use a very complex piece of software, when they cannot possibly understand the peculiarities it is designed to handle, because they have never experienced the occurrence of an issue in day to day storage life? Add to that the fact that storage people are employed for their people skills, rather than for any macro-business acumen, IT, and software knowledge, and you have a problem which is eternally compounding.

StorMan is a software company, yet we are commonly asked about how to go about making major business decisions, IT issues, and operational matters, which have more to do with the owner/manager’s preferences than they do with us and our software. Many times, without experience, the owner/manager does not know what their preferences are, and they might look to StorMan for guidance.

Often, StorMan cannot take on the responsibility of providing the answers sought because the storage business concerned does not belong to StorMan. This can disappoint people. These issues are, in a way, not a StorMan issue, but they tend to become a StorMan problem because (understandably) StorMan are often the first port of call whenever a technology issue rears its head, regardless of whether or not the issue lies within the scope of our jurisdiction. Being a recognised industry “expert” is a nice “problem” to have (some would say) so we have been working on something that might help.

 

We strongly recommend that everyone in storage does three things, straight after they have made the decision to run with StorMan:

  • Join the SSAA. Attend meetings. Meet people who can help with information on various issues. If you can, and especially if you are new to storage, make sure you arrange to spend a week in someone else’s storage business, so you can learn the typical things that happen in day to day storage life. This will help you make decisions on preferences in relation to IT, operational, and management software set up. Ask questions of members, and especially the SSAA representative you are most familiar with. If you need more reasons to join, I refer you to Andy's blog post on that exact topic.

  • If you have StorMan, make sure you are on a valid Support Plan. You can train for a year and a day and still not get to grips with everything. Sooner or later someone will throw you a curveball that was not covered in training, and you simply cannot afford to wait until you are “qualified” before you get started renting out space. For either an annual or a monthly fee you will be able to get started today, and be confident that you can always call and email the StorMan help desk whenever you need.

  • Schedule, every single day, some time when you cannot be bothered by anyone or anything else (customers, tradespersons, system issues, friends, and family) so you can concentrate solely on training/learning about StorMan/the industry. Browse our online training system, watch our training videos, read industry magazines, look at the industry blogs and forum sites. If you are to expand your resource of experiences beyond what you currently have at your disposal, then the experiences of others will help, and you need to take the time every day to benefit from these. But keep it productive. Don’t visit forums to gossip, moan, or complain. This is your learning time and if used properly it will earn you more bonuses and profits.

 

Regards,
Wayne (VP Sales and Marketing, StorMan USA).