The best way to use AI in self-storage is to look forward. This provides actionable steps to address issues that normally might not show up until an owner looks back at historical data to assess what happened.
AI provides insights across many areas of self-storage, including 24/7 customer service, pricing, revenue management, security and surveillance, marketing opportunities, and necessary maintenance. Using AI as a tool in managing self-storage is a smart way to increase overall productivity without increasing expenses. Most self-storage software has built-in AI features that make using it accessible and easy.
If you’re using any of these platforms already, there is an AI platform built in that can provide real-time data and insights to increase revenue and help minimize expenses while focusing efforts on meaningful income-producing activities.
The key to incorporating these platforms is to use them as a tool to provide data today so that managers and owners can look forward – not backward. Here’s an imaginary example.
“You Store It” is a self-storage facility that generally maintains a steady pace of leads and conversion. When things slow down, live data reflects that slowdown in real time rather than waiting for the manager to notice 3-4 business days later. “Hm, the phones aren’t ringing as much.”
Using an AI tool, the manager can know on day 1 that there are generally 5-8 leads and there have only been 2. That significant drop provides insight so that the manager can pivot today rather than 3 days later.
AI is an opportunity for managers to get smarter about their business. It is a tool to help make quicker decisions and shift marketing attention when it’s needed.
Another feature of many AI solutions is to assess potential customer needs at the first point of contact. When a customer ends up at a website with AI built in, that platform can provide accurate data on what is available to the customer so that they can see, “this business has the size, unit, and features I need right now,” and they can quickly make a decision. AI enables faster conversion in many cases.
In another article on the use of AI, we recommend using AI as a tool to manage smarter, but not to think of AI as a replacement for human capital. This article can be found here. Survey statistics reflect that customers still want to interact with a person and find it challenging to get their problem solved using AI and chatbots alone. (Customer Service Trends, SurveyMonkey)
- 79% of Americans strongly prefer interacting with a human over an AI agent.
- 63% of customers don’t believe AI could ever replace human beings in customer service roles.
- 56% of people have negative feelings about companies using AI as part of their customer experience.
- 84% of consumers believe human agents are more accurate than AI.
- 81% of people believe AI is used primarily to save money, not to improve service.
- 89% believe companies should always offer the option to speak with a human.
- 54% of consumers feel they can confidently identify when they’re interacting with an AI chatbot.
As owners and operators, it’s important to acknowledge that customers want humans to meet their needs. Using AI as a single tool to streamline operations and provide insight to make better decisions is a great way to adopt AI in moderation.
At Coastal Storage, we value human capital. This powerful interaction between a human with a need and a human with the knowledge, skill, and expertise to meet that need will always be an important part of what we do. We do encourage owners and operators to think ahead to better, faster, and more efficient ways to accomplish other tasks. If you’re looking for your next investment, or you are interested in the best ways to grow your business using AI as a tool, call us today at 904-591-0140 to work with our team of self-storage experts.