Section 10 • Management


Reporting Process All the bills for the stores, including tax contributions and debt servicing as directed by the owners, are paid by the manage- ment company. Bills are scanned into Dropbox at the store level, processed by the management company, and cash flow statements are produced monthly for each store. They also prepare the monthly financial statements, including recon- ciled bank account statements and comparison to budgeted targets; many also include a comparison of each month to the prior year’s performance. Preparing the annual budget is important to all parties, as it will include all expenses and income targets by month for easy tracking and comparison. There is a wide variety for the reporting timeline to owners, with some reporting within five days of month ending, while reporting occurred around the 15th of the following month for most. Some companies currently offer online portals or websites for owner’s reports and financials.


Manager Hiring And Training Most companies require the on-site staff members to be their employees and not the owner’s employees, and include the obligatory background, criminal, driving, and credit his- tory checks. Authorization for these checks is required of the prospective employee on the company’s employment ap- plications. Managers’ salaries and benefits are included in the annual budgets and charged to the owner as property expenses. A formal, new managers training program and on- going training systems should be in place with an awards or recognition program. At USG, there is a four-phase training


program that lasts two weeks at inception followed by Phase Three Marketing and Social Media Training, and lastly Auc- tion Processing. These expenses are paid by property owners as are supervisor’s or management company staff travel ex- penses. Salaries for all “home office staff” are paid by the management company, not the owner in most cases, however, some public companies may charge this to the owner. Man- ager training consists of sales techniques both on the phone and on site, marketing, reporting, delinquent management, rate management, curb appeal, auditing, administrative, and technology training. Many companies hold annual training and award functions where all store employees are brought together for intensive training and motivation. These can vary in format, from two-day meetings to annual retreats. The re- sult is a more motivated and better educated manager who can produce a better bottom-line result. The operations are standardized across the management platform, making it


Most companies require the on-site


staff members to be their employees and not the owner’s employees, and include the obligatory background, criminal, driving, and credit history checks.


easy to interchange or fill in when needed for emergencies, illnesses, or vacations. Many small operators have no back- up for these situations and can struggle to cover these situations; person- nel management is often the reason they seek third- party managers.


Training is the ongoing


process for all those who manage facilities. How- ever, during the pandemic we had to quickly shift our processes to continue pro- viding great support to our new employees. Mak- ing sure you onboard new employees with adequate and necessary training of your procedures and policies is critical. The fol- lowing are some notes from our award-winning training department to keep in mind, with tips that you will find useful in your own training processes.


98 Self-Storage Almanac 2021


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