Training Elevated! How to Create Your Self Storage Training Process

employees

Providing your staff with rock-solid training is one of the most important things you can do for the operations of your company and the well-being of your staff. Providing the tools, systems, procedures, and expectations will ensure your new employees are able to perform their job to your satisfaction and help them have a more enjoyable work experience.


It also elevates the level at which they can contribute to your company because they know what is expected, and have the time and capacity to think through better ways to generate those outcomes.

Our Atomic Storage Group training started much like most other operators. We would sit next to the manager for 3-5 days and tell them where to point and click. The information that was retained depended on the new employees’ ability to absorb and retain knowledge, and the trainers’ ability to clearly communicate the tasks to be completed. After 4 days, no one can remember everything that is told to them!


Typically, trainers start with the most important information, but what is remembered and what is forgotten varies greatly and can be a small, inconsequential detail, or something that can get you sued. There is no way to know.

As our training evolved, we developed checklists and PDF guides to help our staff walk through the steps that need to be accomplished. Our managers could keep the guides and revisit and reflect on the information after we left. While this method did narrow down the time it took to train our staff and left them with a deliverable to hold, it still didn’t follow the flow of learning.


We found ourselves still doing the heavy lifting in our training as we had to sit and guide our new employees through the process and make sure they understood every step of what was expected. There was not a clear path to learning, and the tools we were using were not put together in a cohesive package.
Our training evolved to our new website program. We boiled the information down to the “Core 4”, which includes:

1. Renting a Unit

2. Taking a Payment

3. The Move Out Process or “Move-Outs”

4. End of Day Processes or “End of Day”

After the new employee is solid on their Core 4, they move on to learn storage software overview, functions of the storage software, customer calls, facility tours, demand, and all the other ancillary items needed to run the business.

We are big believers in automating as much of their job as possible so they can focus on closing leads and collecting money, rather than doing busy work. As you are designing your training, consider

  1. How can you BE LAZIER?
  2. What are the key things your employees can learn BEFORE they start?
  3. What tools do they need to FIND what they need WHEN they need it?

Understanding how people learn will help you design your training process. Developing a training program that includes:

  • Auditory
  • Visual
  • Touch/experience

Developing a mix of video, written, examples, and quizzes will allow employees to learn the way they learn best, no matter their preferred method.

Giving employees training before their first day allows them to start at 30-40% of the expected knowledge base, rather than 0%.
Using technology and self-training allows the trainer to focus their time on building the relationship, answering questions, and practicing the nuisances of managing a self storage property, rather than focusing on where to point and click. It creates a win/win solution for the employee and company.
Atomic Storage Group offers self storage training and consulting in addition to our full-service third-party self storage management services. To learn more about our services, email us at info@atomicstoragegroup.com.