The Storage industry experienced a solid rebound over the last years. The revenue generated by Storage Facilities is expected to continue to experience considerable growth, due to the increase in demand from households and businesses that promise a bright future for new entrepreneurs in the industry. The business plan outlines the major aspects of owning or starting a storage place such as financial projections, marketing plan and operational guidelines.

Business Model

A Storage Business consists of renting storage space created for people to collect their belongings for a short period of time, paid on a monthly basis and subject to renewal. There are different types of storage spaces such as lockers and containers, rooms and boxes, or empty spaces in a secured environment. This section of the business plan describes the industry characteristics, how the storage business works and how it get its customers, among others.

Business Summary

Market Positioning

A Storage facility has to be located in a fairly accessible place, preferably in a densely populated residential area. The business plan offers a guide about the most important features to consider in order to position the business within its geographical area, such as location and security features, which represents in fact the major strengths of the business. It also contains staff training guides to pay attention to details and to deliver excellent services. Positioning the business will be a combined effort that involved increasing the facility’s credibility along with affordable rates.

Operations Plan

In this part of the storage business plan there is a description of the operations such as the size of the facilities, capacity, climate controlled spaces, staff, operating hours, logistics, prices and additional services offered, such as packaging materials. The business offers rental units of various sizes to serve a large distinctive audience, offering both climate-controlled and non-climate controlled units, among other services. This will required details procedures on how to handle delayed tenants and liquidated storage unites.

Marketing Plan

Storage may not be a new industry, but it is one that is rapidly reshaping its operations to suit a progressively more modernized customer base. In order to stay competitive with your storage facility, the business plan embraces current marketing trends, and most importantly, it presents a well-defined set of marketing goals and strategies.

Market Segmentation

The target market for a storage facility is very wide. Households and businesses use storage units to keep their belongings properly safeguarded. The fact that people would need a secured place to keep their properties for a short period of time makes the storage business a thriving and growing business. The business plan explains the strategies to attract all these potential customers to the business and a description of their characteristics. This section will help you define which type of customers you actually want to serve, whether that is individuals or commercial entities.

Promotional Strategies

There are several strategies used to promote a storage business. In this section, you will find a description of attractive marketing strategies in order to make the business grow and become well-known in its surroundings. Some of the ideas explained include online advertising through search engines, along with newspaper, radio and other traditional advertising methods.

Financial Projections

The Storage Facility have steady finances that should not be sensitive to changes in the general economy. Once a customer rents a space from the facility, they will most likely continue to use the space for years to come. Additionally, all fees will be billed on a monthly basis to a credit card, which will ensure that the business maintains minimal receivables issues and that the debt undertaken with the company can be serviced on a monthly basis.

Revenue Assumptions

In this section you will find the main sources of revenues for the storage facility and all the projections needed to determine how much money it can make. This metrics include how long an average customer stays, average rent per month, rates according to size and additional services supplied, which will help you determine how much the business will earn on a monthly basis.

Projecting Expenses

The storage business plan brings a complete list and explanation of initial and regular expenses for the business. Labor costs, mortgages, property taxes, insurance fees, utilities, and other expenses are the most common ones.