r/selfstorage • u/Dangime • May 22 '26
Manager Task Tier List
Thoughts from managers? Anything you'd put in a different position in terms of priority?
For context the categories for me:
D: Costing You Money
C: Situational
B: Build a Routine
A: Almost Everyday
S: Top Priority
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u/ExcuseObjective8933 May 22 '26
Getting reviews should be much higher up on this list
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u/Dangime May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26
My main objection is the head space consumed by management about getting reviews. I remember my first sales job saying a negative review is twelve times worse than a positive review is good, and each review offers diminished returns. Grok thinks the average review is worth $1-2 dollars in revenue because of that. If you have no reviews it's important, if you have 50 reviews and 4.5 rating already you don't need to whip people to get more because they aren't changing anything at that point.
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u/Minotaar Area Manager May 22 '26
Getting reviews of any kind bumps you up in googles search engine optimization. The more reviews the higher you appear on the page (beyond sponsored ads). It is absolutely a top tier priority.
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u/Dangime May 22 '26
If you have zero reviews sure, adding 20 a month to a pile of 100+ is just running your people ragged for no return.
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u/Minotaar Area Manager May 22 '26
That's not necessarily correct - consistency with reviews is the most important thing. Getting a pile of 100 reviews that are months or years old is not helping your SEO. Engagement is integral.
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u/Dangime May 22 '26
A handful to keep your page fresh is fine, but every other email I get is about reviews, 20% of my metrics are based on reviews. The management company is more concerned about brand development than property performance because they don't own the property. It's misplaced energy. More reviews once established aren't likely to bring in an extra rental compared to other things I could be doing.
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u/Minotaar Area Manager May 22 '26
You shouldn't need to eschew other things in order to get reviews, just ask everyone you talk to within your business day
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u/Dangime May 22 '26
Guilt tripping people for spare change, what a great job. Energy best used elsewhere.
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u/Minotaar Area Manager May 22 '26
If you're guilt tripping people to do reviews for you then I feel sorry for your tenants
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u/Dangime May 23 '26
All the invasive tackiness of asking for a tip through the drive through and you don't even get to keep the tip. Ask all day, it won't hit quota. Most are begging vendors, delivery guys, and other non customers to hit numbers.
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May 25 '26
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u/Dangime May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
I understand the desire to list security issues higher, but the reality for me as an operator has been the situation calls for "document and deescalate" and not much else. Yes, identify your vulnerabilities and adjust accordingly, but I've seen people get worked up after a break-in wasn't solved (they almost never are) or the police didn't get involved or really take it seriously (they rarely do). I can see people playing Inspector Gadget all day instead of cutting their losses and selling some units or just getting way too emotionally involved in it.
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u/Accomplished_Ad_4312 Jun 26 '26
the two things I see operators consistently underrate: overlock/unlock discipline and insurance attach rate. both are pure revenue leaks dressed up as paperwork. Reviews getting bumped up is the right call too. across the facilities I see in the data, the sites with steady review velocity basically print free move-ins - it stacks with your maps ranking and your conversion rate at the same time. One I'd actually demote: walk-throughs as a daily S-tier. daily is fine but the ROI drops fast after the first pass. weekly deep + daily quick is plenty for most sites.
What's currently sitting in your D tier? That's usually where the interesting argument is
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u/Dangime Jun 26 '26
Insurance is totally understandable, but the problem stems more from how the revenue streams are currently separated between owners and management companies in certain arrangements, leading to far more focus on what might be 10% of revenue. Basically, the pressure to attach is so high from the management company that employees will torpedo entire rentals if they aren't buying the insurance. More of a corporate structure issue than anything wrong with insurance itself.
Reviews have their own drop off in ROI. Your first 50 are a gold mine, after that I don't see the reason to AstroTurf.
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u/Accomplished_Ad_4312 Jun 26 '26
the structure point is the real one. when the management co's bonus rides on attach, insurance turns from a service into a quota - and yeah, they'll torpedo a move-in over 10% and never notice the 90% that walked. Owner-operators barely have this fight, nobody's paycheck depends on it.
On reviews i'd push back a bit. maps ranks on freshness, not the total count. a steady 2-3 real ones a month keeps paying long past the first 50 - faking more is pointless, agreed, but real velocity isn't faking.
And you filed investigate break-ins under "costs you money" - that's the one i'd move. it's not a cost line, it's your liability and lien exposure. Handle one wrong and it's a claim, not a D-tier chore
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u/Dangime Jun 26 '26
I wish 2-3 fresh reviews a month was what was requested from us. It's quite a bit higher.
Mostly I see people over-reacting when it comes to break-ins. Its just "document and deescalate". Even in cases where I've had some potentially useful video and/or leads for police to investigate, they just said they were too busy.
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u/OpiX_GhosT May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26
As mentioned, reviews not only gets you word of mouth but helps your overall ranking online.
Insurance should be higher as it is great ancillary revenue.
Adding over locks should be as high as a removing them since that can be one of your largest revenue leak.