Make More Money - Audit Your Self-Storage Operation

Auditing is a tool every self-storage location should use regularly to help increase revenue, streamline operations, reduce theft, mitigate risk and grow the business. A comprehensive audit should consist of a facility’s policies and procedures review, reports analysis, a physical site walkthrough and spot-checking signed leases.

Essential to a good audit are a facility’s documented policies and procedures, also known as basic business rules. Without business rules regarding the waiving of fees, discounting, past-due collection procedures, rate increases, etc., employees may have too much leeway, which potentially invites theft and can reduce revenue opportunities.

There are a number of ways audit results can add to increased revenue. After using management summary and exception reports to identifying issues, changing poor past-due collection procedures increases collection of late fees and other unpaid charges and encourages unit auctions based on your business policy. Auditing will alert owners if rate adjustments are executed as expected to both new move-ins and existing tenants. Audits also save money by ensuring the store follows lien and auction procedures.

What is the self-storage management software’s role in an audit? Beyond the ease and speed of printing reports, a management system can take out the ambiguity of emotional decision-making in some typical scenarios. Look for permission-based rules on financials like the maximum number of fees an employee can waive in a month or a maximum amount of fees a tenant can be waived per year. More owners are using management software with electronic signature and electronic lease storage. Retrieving and auditing electronically signed and stored leases dramatically reduces time and can quickly highlight variances between street and tenant rates.

The knowledge and presence of consistent review and audits raises everyone’s level of attention and performance. Used properly and consistently, auditing will boost the health and growth of your self-storage business.

Want to learn how to use SiteLink Web Edition during Site-Level Audits? Watch this recorded webinar to identify areas of opportunity for your property to increase your bottom line and reduce your liability. Learn what auditing tasks should be completed weekly, monthly and quarterly to keep your business running smoothly.

Want to learn how SiteLink helps with Corporate-Level Audits? Watch this recorded webinar that introduces tools and reports in the SiteLink Corporate Control Center and SiteLink myHub to audit your storage businesses efficiently. We’ll explain how to use the tools and reports, what to watch out for and how to protect your business from potential losses.

SiteLink

The #1 Self-Storage Management Software
for everything you need to manage your self-storage business!

Consolidate your entire self-storage business into one solution with SiteLink.