Are Self Storage Price Drops a Lie? Well, sort of... | SSI Podcast

Like any industry, self storage has recently adopted the idea of "promotional pricing." Think "first month's rent" for housing or "device trade in credit" for buying the newest smartphone. At some point, it is just too good to be true.
There's a fine line between "promotional" and "false advertising." Attracting the right customer base - and getting them in the door the RIGHT way - is what Conner and Jesse Harmon talk about in this episode of Self Storage Income.
Jesse recently got back from the Tenant Inc. Innovation Conference, where there was a lot of discussion on customer acquisition, customer service, and the role of AI in revenue management. The overwhelming consensus in the industry (particularly the REITs), is to lower prices, get people renting, and then jack up prices. But that takes the choice away from the consumer (and as a consumer, you may feel swindled or ripped off. Rightly so!). Questionable ethics aside, is this really a sustainable long-term strategy? Is there any other way?
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[@cremls]

This is great, addressing a very real situation in the business, people are doing their own research as well. Honesty goes far.

[@Stealth11574]

Nice info. My RV storage I have customer in Mind. I haven’t raised rates since Covid. I learned to make them happy . I have no vacancies. Steady income.
Maybe I should raise rates . I feel I’m in the market rate

[@SelfStorageIncome]

Right on!

[@TCGStorage]

1. Transparency will win the day. 2. Your brand is your reputation for the long game. 3. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. For small operations being up front with the move in deals works way better than the undisclosed 70/30 rule being used by the big operators. This is a short term gain, but if you have a 1000 doors to fill and the FE's are still due I'll bet they do whatever they have to do for gross dollars. I believe AI is going to get smart about this and stop showing these as organic or will tell the consumer about the risk of the low price it is showing them. Google does not want the user experience to feel like they were mislead by Google. It is called a race to the bottom for the rest of the industry. Our system increase rates each 12 months when a renter has not had an increase and we give then 45 days to stay, ask us for options or move. Every business needs to also understand that their cost will go up each year just to keep up with inflation and that alone does make it necessary to increase the prices just to break even. Great subject and thanks for sharing.

[@SelfStorageIncome]

Glad it was helpful! You are totally right. The value of reputation cannot be overstated