Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
TRANSCRIPTION: #1 � INTRODUCTION.wav DURATION: 00:10:21
Jim: I�m Jim Ross. He�s Matt Vanhorn. And this is the Three Mile Domination Podcast.
Welcome Matt. Matt: How are you doing?
Jim: Good, good. How are you doing today? Matt: Doing well. Thank you.
Jim: Sweet. Matt: Well, it�s been a long time coming
though. We�re jumping in and doing our first Podcast.
Jim: Yeah, after the response we had in Vegas, I think we really need to do this.
Matt: Yeah it was great. We did that speech in Vegas. We got a great response, so� We�ve
been talking about doing a Podcast for� Man, it�s been quite a while, so� It�s
better late than never. I�m glad we�re jumping into this.
Jim: Absolutely. Matt: So let�s go ahead and get into it.
Jim: Yeah. The purpose of this one, here� We�re just going to be kind of giving you
guys an intro about our business with this Podcast and for Three Mile Domination. Matt
and I, we talk every Sunday and at least once a week. Anyway, kind of been doing catch up
on what�s working, what�s not working at our stores� So we kind of figured, you
know, why not record it and benefit our listeners, then great. Here we go.
Matt: Our main goal going into this, you know, just being consistent. You know, we want to
be able to pump out a product that�s at least on a weekly basis for everybody to get
to know the guys. Get some knowledge in that week while you�re listening to it, you know,
actually put some action behind it, and implement it. And that puts some extra money in your
pocket in extra rental, then, you know, we�ve done our job. You know we�re going to do
a lot of content. We�re going to do some videos, of course Podcasts... I can see us
doing Webinars in the future. That�s kind of a wide open field, so I think we�re game
for anything and everything. Jim: Absolutely we want to make sure that
we give everyone who listens to this Podcast something they can actually take home and
use. Not theory, not things that you could possibly do, but hard tracks that you can
take back to your store, implement and get some results with, because again, getting
results is the only thing that really matters. You can come up with all kinds of fun things
but if they�re not profitable it�s a hobby. It�s not a business.
Matt: Oh perfect. Exactly� Jim: I guess a great way to start would be
just to tell people exactly who we are, to begin with. Why should they listen to us?
Where we�re coming from with our perspectives� So, if you don�t mind, why don�t you tell
us a little about yourself? Matt: Actually I started out in the self storage
industry in about 2000 as the store Manager. I�ve grown, both Jim and I, on the store
level so we know what it�s like in the trenches. It�s not like we started in some other industry,
like retail, or something like that and got into self storage. No, we�ve actually started
on the ground level up. I started� I managed my store for a year in Salt Lake City then
I moved back to the state of Florida to take over our regional stuff and since then I�ve
been Operations Manager over a number of self storage facilities, helped in development,
helped in the [inaudible] [0:03:36.5] studies, consult on a number of projects� So I think
we�ve had a pretty good timeframe in this industry right now.
Jim: Yeah so we both kind of came into this at the same time. I started back in 1999.
It�s crazy it�s been that long ago. We�ve been around the block once or twice in the
storage industry, but like you mentioned, we both come from the Manager perspective
as well. That�s where we started at. We�ve managed our own locations for a number of
years and worked our way up as far as regional�s now; looking over many sites, many employees,
and just that knowledge alone is wonderful. Just having that perspective of, �We�ve
been there, done that,� so to speak. Matt: Absolutely and I think what you and
I talk about Three Mile Domination and the reason it�s needed now is because the industry
has changed. When we first got into this industry, they probably didn�t really need something
like this. We sat behind our desks, the phones always rang. We answered our calls. We converted
our prospects. We filled our properties up. That whole world changed in the mid 2000�s
after the real estate boom. Now you have, instead of three competitors within a five
mile radius, you have eight competitors in a three mile radius. So now it�s become
more competitive, therefore you have to have strategies to fight all this other square
footage that�s been flooded into your market in the last two years, and we�re hoping
with this type of system that you guys can take what we�ve learned and what we�ve
done and what we�ve studied and bring it out to your stores and be as successful as
we�ve been. Jim: So, exactly and that�s been the philosophy
behind Three Mile Domination. That�s where Three Mile came from. We were talking about
the new competitors coming into the market. It�s time to really focus on the three mile
radius around your facility. It�s so hard to pull, nowadays, so many locations to choose
from. It�s hard to draw from outside the three mile market, right?
Matt: Oh absolutely, nowadays� Unless you�re in a very, very detailed market, a specific
market, say Manhattan, NY, where you�re going to pull from blocks, or you�re in
an extremely rural market where you�re going to pull from plus eight miles out, it�s
just not going to happen anymore. It�s just that the competition, the easy money in the
2000�s, more people were building all over the place, that you just can�t do it anymore
so now you have to have more complex strategies. It�s all about marketing and sales now,
where it�s less about having someone behind a desk. If you have a manager that doesn�t
want to market and doesn�t want to enhance their sales presentations, you just will not
succeed in this market anymore. And I would say that�s a majority of the markets. Yes,
there are few where you can still stick someone behind a desk and hope and pray the phone
rings, but that�s very few and far between anymore.
Jim: Exactly. So yeah, if we do our job right we want to give our listeners all the tools
and the knowledge and materials, just whatever you can to succeed in your market. If someone�s
looking online, looking for a unit, you want to be the stuff they�re going to be calling.
Someone�s driving by and they see your sign over and over again. The time comes that they
need a unit; they�re going to think of you. And when you actually get that phone call
from [inaudible] [0:07:04.8] manager, you want them trained, have the salesmanship and
the skills to close that sale. You don�t want the buyer jumping around to all different
sites. If they�re calling you, they�re going to remember your manager, remember your
location, and come back to rent. I guess you can sum up in the bottom line of Three Mile
Domination is we want you to dominate your self storage market.
Matt: Absolutely, and what I�d also like to say, it�s not hard. You don�t need
a college education for this. Most of the college education marketing level classes
I took have no response or no relation in the direct response marketing. Jim and I have
spent lots of money, lots of time reviewing a lot of different concepts, attending a lot
of different seminars. I know I specifically attend one once a month, as a marketing group
that I attend. It doesn�t take� All it takes is humble and if you just put the right
tools in effect and track it the correct way, you can be successful. It doesn�t take anything
extensive. Jim: Exactly, so this will be exciting. It�s
a great adventure. We�ve got a lot of ground to cover. Self storage marketing, sometimes
it gets labelled as maybe it�s a boring industry. No, we�re here to jazz it up a
bit. We�ve got a lot to cover. Again, we�re going to try to do it at least once a week,
pump up for you guys, and we hope you enjoy. We�re looking for your feedback, comments,
share this to other facilities. Not your competitors, but if you have other locations to manage
your company or what have you� Share the link out. Let�s spread the word and let�s
make this Podcast a great success. Matt: Absolutely and I�m looking forward
to going forward with this and discussing a bunch of different things you can use to
help you with your occupancy at your storage, and not only just occupancy, but to help you
with your revenue management and OI as well. We�ll cover expenses. We�ll cover ways
to increase revenue. We�ll cover ways to invest that revenue and ways that will increase
you on a multiple fold basis and what you�re taking in on a monthly basis.
Jim: That�s definitely right. A lot of [inaudible] [0:09:19.3] to cover and we�ve got the time
to send it out, so again, look for this once a week. Subscribe to the Podcast and you�ll
be getting constant updates. So we will do this again here real soon.
Matt: Sounds great. Look forward to it. Jim: Alright. Take care.
Matt: Next time we�ll get in the meat and potatoes of it and we�ll actually start
getting some strategies on our next call. Have a great week, folks. Thank you.
Jim: Alright, see ya. Matt: Bye bye.
Jim: Thanks for listening to the Three Mile Domination Podcast. Please check us out at
our website, www.threemiledomination.com, where you can download our free e-book, connect
with us on all the social media platforms, and to subscribe to this Podcast. Please spread
the word to those you think would benefit from this show. Just don�t tell your competitors.
Thanks again.