Last week our team attended the SSA UK Conference in Telford. Stuart Clarke, our newly appointed UK Sales Manager tells us in his words, which Storman Cloud features visitors to our stand were most excited about.
“The SSA UK conference confirmed that I was in the right place”
Recently, I had the pleasure of attending my first Self Storage Association conference in my capacity as Sales Manager here in the UK. It was an excellent opportunity to meet colleagues, customers, and future customers (I guess this one falls on me), and it confirmed that I had made the right choice to join Storman. Why do I say that? Beyond the fact that the self-storage industry is a dynamic, fast-growing industry full of amazing, talented individuals, a lot comes down to hearing how operators perceive our existing, industry-leading technology and our plans for the future.
Let me touch on the top four features that visitors to our stand found most interesting and exciting.
1. Online Move-Ins
If you’re anything like me, a digital native, you know, the type who uses Uber, Just Eat, and Amazon, those who will do anything to avoid entering a retail outlet, then you want and expect seamless online experiences where you can complete your purchase without having to talk to an actual human being. This is what Storman Move-ins enable.
This does not mean we should forget about those people who want the human touch, either in person or on the telephone. Still, it does mean that we offer a choice and don’t view our customers as one homogenous group but as individuals with varying buying behaviours. And, for operators, this means that you can have customers move in after having been ID checked, having paid their deposit/first-month rental, and having their ongoing payments set up without having to lift a finger. This is a win-win for customers and operators!
In the next release of Storman, we will add an online box shop to Storman Move-ins, so you won’t have to wait until the customer arrives to sell them those all-important upsell items like boxes, tape, and padlocks. This has the potential to greatly increase the value of your ancillary sales.
2. Dynamic Pricing
You know that Adam Smith, the father of Economics, was a Scotsman, right? I just thought I would drop that in at any opportunity to big up the Scots. Of course, economics would tell us that demand and pricing are inextricably linked. As demand rises, so should the price because customers will be prepared to pay more.
Many operators will adjust prices manually as occupancy rises and falls, but what if you could automatically adjust pricing based on some pre-defined criteria? This is what Storman can do for our customers already, and we have some exciting developments coming that will allow even greater granularity to this pricing; e.g. Should two units of the same type, where one is at the front gate and the other is at the back fence, be priced at the same level?
3. Integrated Payments
One significant administrative overhead for any facility is the management of payments and debtors. Storman’s integrated payment management reduces this administrative overhead to almost zero, allowing staff to focus on important things like customer service, sales and facility maintenance. Correspondence plans can be built to your requirements that communicate with late payers automatically and, if you wish, can lock the customer out of the facility until such time as they make payment.
4. From the beach bar?
Cloud computing has changed the game when it comes to running your facility. Not only are you always on the most up-to-date version of the software without needing on-site hardware, but you can access your facilities management software from any web-enabled device anywhere in the world, including your favourite beach bar in Spain.
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These are just a few of the features that visitors to our stand were excited by. I’m looking forward to next year when we will have pushed the envelope of what’s possible using our technology in your operations even further. In the meantime, I know that I’m in the right place and if you are an operator in the UK or Ireland, you can expect to be hearing from me!
As always, if you have any questions, or if you’d like to understand more about how Storman Cloud can integrate with your access management systems, feel free to get in touch with us using the form below!
