A-1 Self Storage 2017 Facility Award Winners
When it comes to winning awards, all of our facilities strive for the A-1 Self Storage Facility of the Year Award. A little friendly competition means that all of our locations stay engaged and are always reaching for excellence. The bar is set high and the competition is truly tough, but if a facility has outstanding overall performance and exceeds its goals for the year, the reward is worth the hard work.
Our winning facility for 2017 Facility of the Year is…A-1 Self Storage in Alhambra! If you're not in Alhambra, you can still meet the facility!
We asked Alhambra’s Self Storage Professional, Kevin Walker, what it was like to have his facility win the prestigious award, “Winning facility of the year is a really humbling experience for me as a manager, because it’s my first time,” he said. “Considering the storage location is only 3 years old, compared to other stores that have been around for many many years, it’s really impressive that we won.”
All of A-1 Self Storage’s facilities have generally similar standards and features that help us maintain a great customer experience overall, but Kevin says that it takes more than that to win Facility of the Year, “Everyone has 5x5s and 10x35s. You can have the same specials, you can have the same layout, but it’s the people and the crew that make the difference.” Wise words from a young facility.
There’s no doubt though that those aspects are strong contributing factors to the success of all of our facilities. So Congratulations to Kevin and the rest of the team in Alhambra for their hard work and dedication! We hope you all enjoy the prizes and glory of winning this award, and continue to keep the bar high for competition the years to come! Bring on 2018!
We also recognize top-notch facilities that perform above and beyond in their respective districts.
Our 2017 District Distinction Award Winners are:
- A-1 Self Storage in San Diego’s Mission Valley
- A-1 Self Storage in Concord - Meet the Facility
- A-1 Self Storage in San Diego’s Hotel Circle
- A-1 Self Storage in Fountain Valley - Meet the Facility
We talked to team members at each of these facilities to hear their thoughts on winning the award, what they felt it took to win, and advice they would give to other facilities for success in the years to come.
Jessica Ayling, Self Storage Professional at A-1 Self Storage in Mission Valley, said that the win was a surprise, “We don’t really shoot for it every year. We just kind of hope for the best, and it was a pleasant surprise. We worked really hard.”
Consistency was a common theme when each team was asked what it took to win. Mark, the previous Facility Manager at A-1 Self Storage in Concord echoed this, “I worked there for five or six years and we constantly kept up with taking care of the facility and were just tenacious about it.”
Of course when hard work pays off, facilities are bound to have noticeable changes in customer satisfaction and overall occupancy. Since some of the criteria for winning comes down to these things, A-1 Self Storage in Hotel Circle’s Darlene Kurchokowski knew that her location would be likely candidates for an award.
“We have great reviews online. We were able to meet the budget, and actually exceed every month for the whole year. We have great attendance. Our occupancy is higher than expected,” she said.
Finally, we asked Maricela Mendez manager at A-1 Self Storage in Fountain Valley what advice she would give to other teams who are wanting to vie for the award next year. “Do a really good job at calling all of your leads, because sometimes customers may have certain requirements they need that they don’t know about,” she said. “Listen, be patient, and follow up.”
With all these different perspectives in mind, it’s clear that the teams who won these awards show remarkable effort and sense of pride in the work they do. We are so grateful to have outstanding team members and congratulate you all for winning these awards. We can’t wait to continue seeing great things from you all in the years to come and know that other facilities will be making the competition even more intense than last year!
