![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/660b76b8e366d1d1daf066c4/66185bc2e558e9e3c6ef5ce5_10.png)
The Essential KPIs Every Facility Needs
Dive into the world of KPIs where measuring the right metrics transforms self-storage facilities from fully booked to fully optimized, unlocking new levels of growth and profitability.
“What gets measured, gets managed.” This Peter Drucker simple truth is evident in every aspect of life and business. Want to lose weight: step on the scale. Want a personal best at your next 5k: put that smart watch to work. Want your facility to hit its personal best: break out the spreadsheets. What numbers are you writing down? How often are you not only looking at these numbers to not only see how you did, but also to direct your decisions looking forward?
I once had a manufacturing manager brag about how he increased his output from 50 Widgets per hour to 70. His measure of success was: how many Widgets leave my department each hour. Unfortunately, when these Widgets went through quality, a full 40% of them were rejected. His true output was 42 good Widgets per hour. His department of three machines had so many rejects, that one entire machine was solely dedicated to repairs. I asked him to run an experiment. Change his metric to: how many GOOD Widgets leave his department per hour. Slow down the machines to output 40 per hour. He fought the idea and exclaimed he could not, as he HAD to output 70 per hour. He didn’t understand that he was truly only getting 50 per hour (42 + 8 rework pieces). He finally relented and slowed the machines. A week later he exclaimed that his input had increased from 50 good Widgets per hour to 60. How did he do this? When he slowed the two operation machines to 20 pieces per hour each, the quality was so good, there was no more rework to do. This freed the third machine to move from rework to outputting its own 20 good Widgets per hour. He was now outputting 60 good Widgets per hour. A simple change in his metric made all the difference. Another bonus benefit of this change was the increased capacity in the quality department. Since they were no longer reviewing all the rework pieces for the 2nd or 3rd time, they were able to cut overtime completely.
When looking at this example from the outside, it may seem obvious that the metric being used was not the right one. When you are used to focusing on one metric, such as occupancy, you can become so focused on it, that you can miss out on opportunities for improvement. The most common statements I hear are proud exclamations of a facility being full at 99 or 100% occupancy. My immediate first thought is not ‘great job,’ it is ‘they are missing out on income.’ This full occupancy statement is often followed by another that involves saving money on advertising that is no longer needed because the facility is already full. These statements are in direct opposition to the growth mentality.
I love numbers and I am a true spreadsheet nerd, tracking over 20 metrics for each facility at all times. When it comes to our growth focused facilities, which is all of them, the most important thing I want to know is: how full is the funnel? How good am I doing at driving new business to our door, phones, or website? How many customers are coming in? How full is our funnel and how do we measure this? For a lease up property with plenty of units to rent, this may be how many move ins did we have this month? For a stabilized facility, it may start as simple as: how many calls are coming in? And it can get more complicated as you measure website traffic and conversion rates. The funnel includes customers coming in, and also where you are losing customers. If they don’t rent on the website, is it website functionality, target audience, ease of use, or maybe your prices? If your potential customers are calling in, does the sales team (even if it is you), need sales training? How often is a call turning into a customer? Filling the funnel and keeping it full may come across as very obvious for lease up facilities with little to no occupancy, but if you have growth in mind, it is just as critical to your stabilized facility.
Whether you have over 20 facilities and an operations team or just one small facility with no website, you should be aware of how full your funnel is and how many units or square feet you can fill each month. When you have confidence in your ability to keep your funnel full, you can raise your rates without fear. Let’s run the numbers!
Example: I have 200 units and my facility is completely full. My rates are $100 for a 10x10 unit. I can see online that nearby facilities are charging $140 for 10x10s. My rates are nearly 30% below market. I have stopped spending money on advertising, saving myself hundreds or thousands each month, because my facility is full. I am not getting many calls because when people call in, we are usually full. My customers are not used to getting regular increases, or if they are, they are not very aggressive rate hikes, because I want to stay 100% occupied.
If I change this strategy, even a little, it can make a major impact on monthly income and property valuation.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/660b76b8e366d1d1daf066c4/6613765d3ae6c5ad1721f503_Screenshot%202024-04-08%20at%2012.45.08%E2%80%AFAM.png)
Once you have confidence in your funnel and your ability to fill it, you can be more aggressive on your street rates, and you can be more aggressive in your current tenant rate increases. This is why you will see the REITs and the large operators investing heavily in their marketing strategies, because your funnel, your ability to bring in new business, is the key to continual growth at your facility.
Request Your FREE Copy Of Self-Storage Edge
Subscribe to the print edition of the Self-Storage Edge to receive quarterly deliveries of insights, innovations and actionable information.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/660b76b8e366d1d1daf06666/6618758e70b3472ae1e020ed_7snquD360%20(1).png)