Flashback

Monthly Funny

Upcoming events & webcasts

Greetings, %%Facility name%%. Welcome to eNews issue #27 - where, judging by that list of articles above, it's going to be a big one for you this month! Can you believe we need 3 columns up there?! That's a first for us.

Three columns aside, we're got heaps of great things in store for you this month - including some great new blog posts (a record number in itself), a bunch of photos from the recent self storage convention in Wellington, New Zealand - and our usual swag of regular features.

As usual, if you have any comments, ideas or suggestions, just get in touch with me via andy@storman.com. Until next time, happy surfing! :-)

Regards,
Andy & the StorMan Software Team

StorMan PowerSessions are short, sharp, online webcasts designed to show you how to use a particular StorMan feature. By keeping them under 20 minutes, you can learn a new trick and then get back on with your day.

After a year of quiet, they're back - and we've got 8 different PowerSessions planned for you. Topics covered include some of the following...

• How to export from StorMan to MYOB (with Nyree)
• Using the Bank Reconciliation feature (with Nyree)
• The all-new Sales Enquiry report (with Ben)
• Using the terrorism / threat-level system (with Ben)

To register for these and more sessions, view our online Events & Session Times page, or check out our list of upcoming events right here in this newsletter.

As mentioned earlier, the Self Storage Association of Australasia (SSAA) recently held its flagship tradeshow & convention in Wellington, New Zealand. Here are a couple of photos from the tradeshow, with many more available for viewing on our website...

View more photos on our website...

Every two years, the Self Storage Association of Australasia (SSAA) conducts a Demand Study - the most comprehensive research completed into what drives people to use self storage in Australia and New Zealand.

While I've only had a chance to read about one-tenth of this year's Demand Study, it's kept me glued to the pages for hours. We have copies of all Demand Studies on file here at StorMan HQ and you'd be amazed how many times we refer to them during the year - even the old copies!

The Demand Study covers hundreds of topics - but being the "web guy" here at StorMan, I found particular interest in some of the statistics from existing & potential storers when it comes to a storage facility's website.

Did you know that potential storers would like to see the following functions on a storage facilities' website?

• List of units available & prices (86.4%)
• Ability to pay their account online (64.4%)
• Ability to see their account status online (62.5%)
• Ability to book (reserve) a unit & pay a deposit online (59%)

Out of 8 selected major self storage operator websites surveyed in the study, only 3 of them provided actual unit size & pricing data for specific facilities. Sadly, many self storage websites don't offer any of these features... yet, using StorMan (linked to your website), your customers can perform each & every of the above functions on your self storage facility's website.

Continue reading Andy's blog online, or make the next step & take advantage of our great offer - this month only!

StorMan wishes to congratulate all Self Storage Association of Australasia (SSAA) award winners for 2010, as honoured at the SSAA's recent convention closing ceremony & dinner...

• Facility of the Year – Rentaspace, St Mary's
• Regional Facility of the Year – Storage One, Upper Hutt (NZ)
• Regional Facility of the Year (highly commended) - Store and More Self Storage, Ocean Grove
• Innovation of the Year – Steel Storage, Cubix
• Manager of the Year - Mark Stuart at National Storage, Brunswick
• Expansion - Storage King Downtown, Thorndon (NZ)

Over the last 2 months, we've welcomed some great new guest bloggers to our website - including Ben Parsad from PTI Australasia and Rob Baird from Ezidebit. Be sure to check out their latest blog posts via our News & Blogs page, on our main website.

Of course, we're always looking for more guest bloggers to write for us - so if you've got something to say or you enjoy writing articles about self storage, computers or technology in general, please get in touch with Andy. Thank you.

For those of you that organise get-together's, movie-nights & dinners with friends, you'll know just how tricky it can be to try and find a date, time & location to suit everyone.

However, using Doodle, you can setup a series of dates & times and have your friends vote on the one that suits them best... thus allowing Doodle to do the planning and organising for you. You & your friends can even view it as a calendar (and connect it to your own Outlook or Google calendar) to easily & quickly vote 'yes' / 'no' to days that suit the user best.

For out more, at Doodle.

This month's offer for StorMan eNews readers: If you've read Andy's article at the top of this newsletter, you'll know just how important it is for you to offer Online Payments and Online Reservations on your website... after all, more than 59% of potential storers want to see this functionality on your website! Good thing then, that this month's special eNews offer is right down that alley.

Purchase our Online Reservations & Online Payments modules (together) for just AUD$500 / USD$500 / GBP£350 / NZD$675 (excluding any local taxes).

This offer valid for uptake between 1st November 2010 - 30th November 2010. Upfront payment required. For details, please contact StorMan Sales via http://go.storman.com/contact/

LIVE IN-PERSON SESSIONS

• November 3, 2010: StorMan will be attending the Californian Self Storage Association reception in NoCal. Find out more via the CSSA website.

FREE POWERSESSIONS (webcasts by StorMan)

• November 2nd 2010 (10am AEST / 11am AEDST / 1pm NZDT): Learn how to setup a series of SMS notices to trigger either ad-hoc or during Daily Processing. Duration 10-20mins (approx) - register here.


• November 2nd 2010 (1pm AEST / 2pm AEDST / 4pm NZDT): Learn how to setup categories for customer notes & the Threat Level system. Duration 10-20mins (approx) - register here.


• November 22nd 2010 (10am AEST / 11am AEDST / 1pm NZDT): Learn about upcoming features in our next release - like how to customise the icons on your StorMan Pro Dashboard. Duration 10-20mins (approx) - register here.


• November 22nd 2010 (12noon AEST / 1pm AEDST / 3pm NZDT): Learn how to use the Bank Reconciliation module in StorMan. Duration 20-30mins (approx) - register here.


• November 24th 2010 (10am AEST / 11am AEDST / 1pm NZDT): Learn about setting up and exporting to MYOB from StorMan. Duration 30-45mins (approx) - register here.


• November 24th 2010 (1pm AEST / 2pm AEDST / 4pm NZDT): Learn about our new Sales Enquiry report. Duration 5-15mins (approx) - register here.


• November 25th 2010 (1pm AEST / 2pm AEDST / 4pm NZDT): Learn how to TXT your storers & find out when the message is delivered to their mobile phone - all integrated directly onto the customer's agreement in StorMan! Duration 20-30mins (approx) - register here.


• November 30th 2010 (10am AEST / 11am AEDST / 1pm NZDT): Learn how to setup a late notice. Duration 10-20mins (approx) - register here.

A few weeks back, we held a couple of Ezidebit webcasts - demonstrating how the system integrated with StorMan for automatic payments via credit card and bank accounts.

The best thing about Ezidebit is that you don't need to apply for a merchant account with your bank; rather, you operate within Ezidebit's own merchant account. This is great news for self storage facilities that have tried to apply for direct debits with their bank in the past - only to be told they need to be in business for 5 (or more) years & have tens of thousands of dollars of funds in reserve.

Thanks to the specialised merchant arrangement, sign-up is very quick - you can be up & running and taking direct debit payments from customer bank accounts & credit cards within 48 hours of applying!

To find out more or to view the video recording from our webcasts, check out our links below. Special thanks goes to Natasha from Ezidebit for taking part in our webcasts.

The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called "aglets".

AutoCorrect

If you often find yourself making the same mistake with a word over and over again, why not use AutoCorrect to fix it? AutoCorrect is supported by all Microsoft Office products and automatically corrects mistakes you make. It contains a set of common typo's by default (such as correcting 'teh' to 'the'), but you can also add your own...

1. To do so, highlight the word or phrase that you have mistyped.
2. Right-click it. Select 'AutoCorrect' then 'AutoCorrect Options'.
3. In the dialog that appears, enter the incorrect text, followed by the correct type within the 'Replace text as you type' section.
4. Add any other common misspellings you may have while you're there.

Your AutoCorrect options have now been setup.

While we suspect this is a clever Photoshop job, we still feel sorry for the poor kid...

Have you got a joke or funny pic to send us?
Please let us know!

Did you miss any of our recent myStorMan 2.0 or Ezidebit webcasts? Never fear; you can always watch the video recordings via the Recorded Sessions section of our website. Be sure to check out our free upcoming webcasts, too!

TBM stands for 'tunnel boring machine'. A TBM is a machine used to excavate tunnels with a circular cross section through a variety of soil and rock strata. They can bore through hard rock, sand, and almost anything in between.

TBMs were used in the construction of the Channel Tunnel, linking UK and France - with the UK side using six TBMs and the French five - driving towards one another. At the meeting point, the UK TBMs were driven steeply downwards and buried clear of the tunnel. The French TBMs then completed the tunnel and were dismantled. To this day, there are still several TBMs buried under the Channel Tunnel.

You can read more about TBM's via Wikipedia...

Jane's father has five daughters: 1. Nana, 2. Nene, 3. Nini, 4. Nono. What is the name of the fifth daughter? Stuck? The answer is in the next issue!

Answer to last month's brainteaser: A river.

Just a friendly reminder that StorMan Software will be running on adjusted operating times over the festive season. The operating hours for each of our worldwide offices are shown below...

Australian Office
December 24th: 8am - 12noon AEST
December 27th (Boxing day): Closed
December 28th (Christmas day): Closed
December 29th: 8am - 12noon AEST (urgent support only)
December 30th: 8am - 12noon AEST (urgent support only)
December 31st: 8am - 12noon AEST (urgent support only)
January 3rd: (New Years day): Closed
January 4th: Open as per usual

New Zealand Office
December 24th: 8:30am - 2pm NZT
December 27th (Christmas day): Closed
December 28th (Boxing day): Closed
December 29th: 10am - 3pm NZT
December 30th: 10am - 3pm NZT
December 31st: 10am - 3pm NZT
January 3rd: Closed
January 4th: Closed
January 5th: Open as per usual

United States Office
December 24th: 8:30am - 2pm PTD
December 25th (Christmas day): Closed
December 29th: 10am - 3pm PTD
December 30th: 10am - 3pm PTD
December 31st: 10am - 3pm PTD
January 3rd: (New Years day): Closed
January 4th: Open as per usual

United Kingdom Office
December 24th: 8:30am - 12noon UTC/ZULU
December 27th (Christmas day): Closed
December 28th (Boxing day): Closed
December 29th: 8:30am - 12noon (urgent support only) UTC/ZULU
December 30th: 8:30am - 12noon (urgent support only) UTC/ZULU
December 31st: 8:30am - 12noon (urgent support only) UTC/ZULU
January 3rd (New Years day): Closed

This month's flashback takes us back to April 2008 when Wayne from our USA office pondered how a "free salad" in storage land could lead to 95% occupancy. Read more about this in Wayne's blog...

Hi there - I'm Darran, one of StorMan's Technical Support Agents. Each issue, I'll trawl through the deep depths of the internet to find you a funky piece of software, hardware or other interesting technological trinkets.

Make-your-own bendy straws

When I was a kid, we had cool bendy straws. And I mean really cool - not the lame ones you get today with one bend near the top. I'm talking about drinking straws with more twists & loops than your local rollercoaster. But why have your creativity boxed-in by the straw manufacturer, when you can make your own bendy straws!

Provided with over 40 different parts, this set has enough loops, bends, T-junctions & cross junctions to keep you (and/or your kids) busy for hours... you can even drop multiple straws into different drinks and have them mix together on their way into your mouth (as shown below). This could be interesting with alcohol - but you didn't hear it from me. Drinking has never been more fun!

Nb. All 'Latest Gadget' information & imagery is sourced from online entities & supplier websites. StorMan generally doesn't endorse, own or test any of these products; we merely link to them as you might find them interesting or fun for your own use...