In this post, I want to talk with you about a certain anxiety surrounding a false belief that many operators in the self storage industry have.  A premonition of sorts…

The other night my wife and I curled up under a blanket with a fresh batch of salty popcorn and watched a movie called Premonition.  If you haven’t seen it, you won’t need to after reading this because I’m going to spoil the ending for you.

But, I promise to make it worth your while by helping you increase occupancy and profits while your competitors shrivel up and suffer this winter season.

In the movie, Sandra Bullock’s character is a wife and mother living – what appears to be – an average American life.  Her husband seems to have an average job, they live in a decent home and deal with the day-to-day like most folks do.

She has two children and performs the duties of a home maker…

After dropping the kids off at school one day, she goes home.  While checking the messages on her answering machine her doorbell rings…

She opens the door to find a Police Officer on her porch.  He informs her that her husband has been in a horrible car accident and is dead.

As most people would, she becomes hysterical and spends the rest of the day in extreme heartache and pain due to the loss of her husband and the father to her children.

The next morning she wakes up, puts on a bathrobe and walks downstairs to find…

Her husband in the kitchen ALIVE and on his way to the office!

Were the previous events a dream?  No, she was having a premonition.

The movie goes on to reveal more and more of what’s to come.  

She knows her husband is going to die…  

But, nobody believes her…  

She begins putting events in order and doing everything she can to prevent it from actually happening.  Over the next week or so, her life is a complete hell.

Can you imagine knowing that someone you care deeply about is going to die?

Anyway, she pins down the exact moment and location of his car accident and drives out to the intersection just in time to save her lover’s life.

As she is talking to him on his cell phone, screaming hysterically for him to get out of the way of an oncoming fuel tanker the tanker hits him and he dies.

So, no matter what she did, he still died in the exact same manner she saw through her premonitions.

As I thought about this movie, I had a few ramblings go through my head…

(Yes, I’m so obsessed with self storage marketing, I can’t even watch a movie without thinking about it!)

First, there are some things in this life that we simply can’t control.  But, does that mean we shouldn’t try?

As I watched Sandra’s husband die after all of her efforts to prevent his tragic death, it was a sad moment…to be sure.  But at the same time, she had peace-of-mind knowing that she did everything she could to stop this horrific event.

Had she known and not tried to do anything (which she considered), she would’ve spent the rest of her life wondering “what if”.

I’m a firm believer in ACTION.  If I try my hardest to do something and the result doesn’t work out in my favor…that’s okay with me.  There’s obviously a lesson I need to learn.

But in many cases, taking action will lead to a different outcome that what I originally thought possible.

Had Sandra been able to stop the accident, she might still have a husband and father for her kids.

Had Wilbur and Orville Wright listened to common belief, they never would’ve achieved the greatness they did in their lives.

Now, to the subject of the most important person in this world…YOU!

As I talk with operators around this time of year, I notice that many of you are having premonitions of your own.  And many of you are quite anxious about it…

Many of you fear that your occupancy will fall as the leaves of beautiful autumn trees do.

Many operators go into hibernation with the bears and let the silent forces of this business take you a few steps backward.

I think this is bogus.

While there are certainly some things in this life that we *can’t* control…our occupancy isn’t one of them.  Those operators who remain proactive and aggressive throughout the Fall and Winter do just fine.

Sure, Fall and Winter are not the best seasons for the storage business. But, smart marketing will help you more than you might believe possible.

The holiday season can be extremely lucrative for self storage operators…

So can the New Year…

So can spring…

But, I have news for you: Yellow Pages and half-hearted marketing guesses aren’t gonna cut it.

To thrive while your competition is suffering takes smarts and aggressive marketing.

I’ve put together an outline called “Winning in the Winter”.  This short checklist is full of Fall/Winter specific marketing ideas that have worked extremely well.  I’ll send it to you free of monetary exchange if you’d like it.

To get your copy, simply send your complete name and mailing address to info@storagemarketingsolutions.com with “Winter” in the subject line.

I hope you have a wonderfully prosperous Winter season!

For now, here’s a picture of what I have the pleasure of looking at this Fall!

Beautiful isn’t it? 

To your higher occupancy & profits!
 

Derek Naylor

President

Storage Marketing Solutions 800.941.4805 

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