10 episodes

Join us for our brand new show, The Self Storage Lab–a new podcast deconstructing how operators are adapting to today’s technology-driven landscape and how it might impact your business.

In the age of hyper-informed, store-anywhere customers, your business needs to be always on, data-driven, and customer-centered.

Whether you’re a thousand location operator or looking to get into self storage with your first property, nerd out with us as we help you decide what’s best for your business.

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tryswivl.com/blueprint

Self Storage Lab swivl

    • Business
    • 4.4 • 7 Ratings

Join us for our brand new show, The Self Storage Lab–a new podcast deconstructing how operators are adapting to today’s technology-driven landscape and how it might impact your business.

In the age of hyper-informed, store-anywhere customers, your business needs to be always on, data-driven, and customer-centered.

Whether you’re a thousand location operator or looking to get into self storage with your first property, nerd out with us as we help you decide what’s best for your business.

tryswivl.com
tryswivl.com/blueprint

    Management Styles & Tools (Hub & Spoke, Remote, etc.)

    Management Styles & Tools (Hub & Spoke, Remote, etc.)

    Welcome to the Self Storage Lab — where we deconstruct how operators are adapting to today’s technology-driven landscape and how it might impact your business.Have you ever reached that point where running your self-storage property just feels like too much to handle? The good news is that you've got options! In episode 9 of the Self Storage Lab podcast, Kyle, Mason, and Rodolfo discuss the varying management styles in the self storage industry and how they have led to changes in the day-to-day functions of operating teams.



    Mentioned in this episode:

    The transition period in the industry




    The shift from traditional brick and mortar management to remote, unmanned, and virtual management


    The rise of technology and changing consumer expectations


    The impact of COVID-19 on management styles



    Different management styles




    Fully remote or unmanned management
    Hybrid management styles
    Automated management



    Which management style is right for you?




    The benefits and challenges of the different styles of management
    The role of human involvement in remote management
    The need for reliable technology and security measures
    The importance of customer service and personal interaction
    The potential for robots and other technologies to replace human involvement



    The shift in management styles in the self storage industry




    The importance of focusing on sales and service centers and boots on the ground personnel
    Viewing management styles as a customer journey
    The importance of the first-time rental experience
    70% of renters are first-time renters



    The role of technology in improving the customer experience




    The potential for cloud-based software, mobile apps, and kiosks to improve efficiency and convenience
    The need for reliable technology to protect sensitive data
    The potential for technology to improve the ongoing customer experience



    Making the decision for your business




    The importance of finding the right balance for your business and customers
    Pros/Cons of In-house management
    Pros/Cons of Third-party management
    The economies of scales of Third-party management



    Remote vs. Unattended facilities




    Is it truly unmanned/unattended?
    The benefits/challenges of remote management
    What’s the difference between remote and hub and spoke?
    What’s the deal with unattended facilities?
    Finding the right balance



    The Importance of Simplification




    How to streamline the Customer Journey to bring uniformity
    Simplifying the technology stack to have one way to do as much as possible is key to success
    How to optimize the Rental and Sales Process



    Leveraging automation in self-storage management




    The impact of technology on hiring and employee turnover rates
    The importance of standard operating procedures (SOPs) in remote management
    The role of technology in enhancing property value and attracting higher-end tenants
    Tools and technologies for remote management, including video calling, contact centers, and automated locks
    AI for predictive maintenance and enhanced security
    Thinking outside the box and applying retail strategies to self-storage management and operations.



    Thank you for listening. Please leave any feedback and we encourage you to subscribe to get the latest episodes instantly.


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    • 1 hr 13 min
    ChatGPT Update! Things are moving fast

    ChatGPT Update! Things are moving fast

    Cool Use Cases or Examples


    Lease summaries
    Prompt Engineering
    Real time Ad Generation based on your product following, research, and search behavior
    Create instant copy and formatting for a website

    How Self Storage can leverage GPT-powered tools


    How swivl is taking advantage of this technology and how operators are using it TODAY
    Introducing Agent Assist for faster response times
    Introducing Conversation Summary for an instant overview of an interaction with a current customer
    Use Cases and Limitations

    How swivl thinks about Intelligent Automation


    The new Tier 0 to deflect and automate
    Smart routing to the right team member
    More Efficient Knowledge workers

    What’s new in AI this week


    Open AI + Microsoft  Bing AI
    Google’s Bard AI + Demo Mishap 
    ChatGPT’s 100m Monthly Users
    The rise of competitors

    [38:00 mark] — Deep Dive into AI market in general


    OpenAI: From nonprofit to for profit.
    Bing chats with itself
    The story behind Sydney cc: Ben Thompson
    Prompt Engineering
    Difference between chatGPT and GPT3.5

    Limitations


    What are hallucinations?
    Trust and Safety Layer: the layer in between model and user interface
    Human Factor Reinforcement Learning

    History of OpenAI’s Large Language Model


    What datasets was chatGPT trained on?
    Are chatgpt users the product now?
    Big Data vs Your Data

    What’s up next?


    Google v Microsoft v Amazon v Meta
    Consumer AI tech vs Enterprise AI tech
    The importance of business context when leveraging GPT and LLMs


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    • 1 hr 22 min
    Omnichannel Communication

    Omnichannel Communication

    Long gone are the days when customers only had one or two options for interacting with a company. Today’s customers move freely through digital and analog channels, using telephones, web chat, social media, and others to make purchases, find solutions, initiate returns, and more.

    In today's episode, we will be discussing the importance of having a cohesive communication strategy across all channels, including email, social media, and in-person interactions. We will also delve into the role that technology plays in enabling shoppers a seamless, consistent experience wherever they engage with your brand

    Some of the topics we will be covering in today's episode include:


    The definition of omni-channel communication and why it matters
    We will dig into benefits you might expect from a successful transition
    Examples of successful omni-channel communication in action
    A look at trends to keep an eye on in the new year

    We hope you enjoy this episode and come away with a better understanding of the importance of omni-channel communication in today's world.



    Show Notes

    1:23 - What is Omnichannel?

    Defining Omnichannel Communication and why it is important
    Expected response times for main communication channels (8:15)
    The difference between Omnichannel and Multi-Channel

    11:43 - Benefits of Omnichannel Strategy

    How can you leverage an omnichannel strategy to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty?
    Companies with a strong omnichannel strategy retain an average of 89% of their customers.
    Consistency is KEY
    How to eliminate friction and silos within your organization?

    13:52 - Talk is talk. Time to get our hands dirty. How to create a plan?

    Who in your organization should be involved in creating an omnichannel strategy?
    How to go about creating an action plan to implement the strategy?
    How to create a strategy that combines both in-person interactions to online services?

    17:25 - Examples of Companies Doing Omni-Channel Right

    Can I use Apple as an example for every topic?!
    We discuss how some world-renowned brands are using an omnichannel strategy
    Who in Self Storage is doing omnichannel right?

    24:35 - How It Affects Operators

    What are some of the common pitfalls and challenges business face when implementing an omnichannel strategy?
    How to make the transition from a single-channel and multi-channel strategy
    What questions to ask when implementing this strategy?
    How to incentivize your team successfuly?

    31:52 - How to leverage technology to achieve a true omnichannel communication

    What’s the role of Automation in an omni-channel strategy?
    What is a “channel” and which ones should I be paying attention to?
    At what point in the customer’s journey do store managers need to get involved?

    39:53 - Pet Peeves

    Some fun personal anecdotes of bad omnichannel experiences

    44:47 - Self Storage Wrapped | Future Trends

    Conversational AI will continue to permeate communication stacks
    Amazon Go - style Self Storage facilities?
    Can technology create more human connection in the industry?






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    • 53 min
    ChatGPT & Generative AI

    ChatGPT & Generative AI

    We spend a majority of the today’s show nerding out about ChatGPT’s technology in general, discuss some philosophical questions, use cases, and it’s limitations.

    If you want to get right to the meat of how this affects the self storage industry - fast forward to 50m30s

    The rest of the following show notes were *** WRITTEN BY ChatGPT ***

    Introduction:

    In this episode, we will be discussing the latest breakthrough in language technology, GPT-3, and its impact on the self-storage industry. GPT-3, which stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3, is an autoregressive language model developed by OpenAI that uses deep learning to produce human-like text. The model was launched in November 2022 and reached 1 million users just five days after its initial launch.

    Segment 1: What the heck is GPT-3?


    GPT-3 is a large language model that predicts the probable sequence of words. It was trained on a massive corpus of text with more than 175 billion parameters and was taught how to pick up on writing patterns by analyzing millions of conversations.
    The model has an input layer, where the user inputs a prompt, and an output layer, where the model generates a response that sounds "human-like."
    GPT-3 is based on the GPT-3.5 architecture, which includes three models: text-davinci-002, trained by supervised fine-tuning on human-written demonstration, and samples rated 7/7 by human labelers on overall quality scores, and the most recent text-davinci-003, which includes reinforcement learning with human feedback (RLHF), a reward-based model trained on comparisons by humans.

    Segment 2: How did GPT-3 get so smart?


    GPT-3 is the latest iteration in a series of models, including GPT and GPT-2.
    The model's intelligence is derived from a massive corpus of text with more than 175 billion parameters.
    Beyond GPT-3, what does the future hold?

    Segment 3: Use cases


    Some examples of GPT-3's capabilities include sending and responding to emails, writing cover letters, building Excel formulas, and creating creative projects such as poems and short stories.

    Segment 4: Limitations


    GPT-3's limitations include its inability to distinguish between b******t and reality, its lack of understanding of math, and the fact that the code it generates may not always run correctly.

    Segment 5: Impact on the Self-Storage Industry


    GPT-3's advancements may affect technologies and processes such as Property Management Systems (PMS), the analysis of BI databases, and call centers/customer support.
    Specific use cases in the self-storage industry include generating emails and messages, sales pitches, and responses to Google reviews.
    It can be eerie as to how human-like GPT-3's responses can sound, but it still has errors.

    ***END CHAT GPT***

    Resources:

    Tips and Tricks to using chatGPT:

    @JustinFineberg
    @thatroblennon
    @danshipper


    ChatGPT Limitations

    OpenAI Blog

    OpenAI Alignment Research

    OpenAI Moderation Tool

    The AI Revolution | Wait But Why






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    • 1 hr 10 min
    Reputation Management

    Reputation Management

    Welcome to the Self Storage LAB — where we deconstruct how operators are adapting to today’s technology-driven landscape and how it might impact your business.

    In today’s business landscape, your online presence and reputation is mission critical to helping you stand out in the sea of competitors. Reviews are one such way to stand out. If you give an unparalleled customer experience, your customer’s won’t keep it a secret. They will share it! Reviews are a Transfer of Trust, the Modern Referral mechanism.

    Your brand is your business. And your online reputation is a huge part of your brand.

    We explore:


    What is Reputation Management and why does it matter?
    The value of a reputation management strategy
    Examples of brands doing it right
    Innovative ways to Collect Reviews

    Show Notes

    Nerdy Numbers Corner - Why Does It Matter?

    Defining Reputation Management
    Mason and Rodolfo relay some of the numbers they found researching Reputation Management.

    Reviews IRL

    Amazon and Yelp reliance on reviews
    Wirecutter buying advice
    Twitter verification
    Google Maps orders Rodolfo’s dinner

    Brands to live by

    Apple and Nike - High Quality and Aspirational
    Southwest - Loyalty and Freedom
    Costco - Quality and Affordability
    Disney - Feel Good Stories
    Subaru - AWD and Mountains

    Self Storage Operators build their reputation

    Google is King
    Getting involved in your community
    Brand trust is the long term investment

    How To: Reputation Management 101

    WHY? Reviews lead to more sales
    Pillars of Reputation Management
    Build
    Maintain
    Recover

    Using sentiment throughout the customer journey to optimize for positive reviews
    Gold Standard: Net Promoter Scoring
    Turning detractors into promoters: Acknowledge, Align, Assure

    Incentives and strategy for more reviews

    Put that review to work

    Social Proof and the Trust Economy
    Just Reply!
    Showcase them on your website
    Turn that frown upside down. Handling negative reviews
    Review gating discussion

    Decision Time

    Google My Business
    Does it integrate?
    Does it support multiple locations?
    Can I manage my listings?
    Insights and Analytics offerings?
    Other features to make the job easier?

    Other Misc Links

    Wendy’s Twitter
    Wendy’s best tweets
    Reputation.com
    Typeform
    Qualitrics
    Uberall


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    • 1 hr 1 min
    Email Marketing

    Email Marketing

    Welcome to the Self Storage Lab — where we deconstruct how operators are adapting to today’s technology-driven landscape and how it might impact your business.

    Even with facility occupancy at all-time highs this year, operators should be exploring fresh ways to market their facilities. Even in a booming market, you can build momentum and capitalize on the steady demand.

    By embracing new Email Marketing concepts, you can stay ahead of the curve, engage new tenants, and educate customers on your facility amenities and company news.

    We breakdown how it affects Operators and Customers alike, what to look for when making a decision, and discuss some tools you can use to streamline your Email Marketing.

    We explore:


    The benefits of Email Marketing
    Email Marketing Best Practices
    List Building
    What to track and what not to track
    Segmentation and Personalization at scale
    Community Building
    Email Reputation
    Email Marketing Pet Peeves

    Show Notes:


    What is Email Marketing
    Overview of the Best Practices for Email Marketing
    The importance of a checklist before sending a campaign
    Designing your Email and Leveraging Templates
    Audience and List Building
    Is it worth buying a list?
    Criteria operators should identify to meaningfully segment their audience
    Leveraging Email Marketing to test content
    Your secret weapon: Facility waitlists!!
    List Health tools: Litmus and Sender Score
    Transactional vs Marketing Emails
    Content Segmentation
    The importance of having a campaign goal
    Example email campaigns
    Don’t be afraid of the Unsubscribe button!
    What to Measure
    Top KPIs every operator should measure
    A/B Testing as a tool
    It is critical to understand your main driver
    UTM parameters and link tracking
    Best times to engage your list
    Using data and parallel industry benchmarks to help inform you
    Top Email Marketing Players
    SBOA’s newsletter template
    StoragePug’s shareable content
    Learns from Extra Space and Public Storage
    Superhuman and Sketch as Case Studies
    Tools and recommendations
    An Operator’s decision and purchase checklist
    Top features to look out for when purchasing
    swivl’s email marketing tech stack: Mandrill/Mailchimp, Sendgrid, FMS integrations
    E-commerce as a case study: Klaviyo, Active Campaign
    Generative AI tools: Copy.ai



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    • 56 min

Customer Reviews

4.4 out of 5
7 Ratings

7 Ratings

hlevy57 ,

Loved the Chat GPT AI episode!

Yes, please keep geeking and nerding out, even waxing philosophical!

Very informative and accessible (for even non-technical folks!). Really exciting time we’re living in and hearing about where this technology interacts with the storage space and what Swivel has been up to (all along!)

Looking forward to the Storage Space Lab Happy Hour!

g3l1d ,

Started with ChatGPT

Started général and came back to storage.

MadiShepp ,

Only Self Storage Podcast You’ll Ever Need

The best podcast I’ve found focused on everything self storage. They really know what their talking about! I love listening and find myself walking away with a new piece of information after each listen. My go-to podcast for everything self storage. Keep the knowledge bombs coming!

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