Pedro Florida has no time to waste waiting for data. As the President of Trojan Storage, a veteran multi-site self-storage company running 56 facilities across six states, his needs for data visibility are considerable. That's a lot of gates, a lot of tenants, and a lot of decisions that need to happen fast.
So we sat down with him to talk about how he does it, and why he relies on QuikStor for him and his team.
Trojan Storage didn't get to 56 facilities by doing business in an ordinary way. Florida and his team built the company on two core values: customer satisfaction and quality.
"What makes Trojan Storage special is the years we have worked to deliver a great experience for every tenant at a high standard of quality," Florida told us. "As owner operators, we have decades of experience in operating self storage. Our standard of cleanliness and quality at our properties, as well as the training of our employees, make us the gold standard for self storage."
That standard shows up in the details: clean, well lit properties, an inviting environment for customers, and staff trained to make storage easy. And it stretches across every state Trojan operates in, from Washington, Oregon, California, and Arizona on the West Coast to a growing presence in Illinois and New Jersey on the East Coast.
Plenty of software companies have tried to build a facility management system. Almost none have actually run facilities for years like QuikStor’s builders have.
"There are quite a few nuances to a day to day self-storage operation that a typical software company may not see behind the curtains," Florida said. "That insider knowledge is how QuikStor gives Trojan Storage a competitive edge in day to day operations, making it easy for site managers, district managers, and leaders to run their facilities their way."
That's the whole point of an operator built platform. QuikStor wasn't designed by outsiders guessing at what storage operators need. It was shaped by the day to day reality of running facilities: the same reality Trojan Storage lives in every day.
Running 56 facilities from a corporate office means Florida needs answers fast, not a stack of spreadsheets pulled from a dozen different systems.
"QuikStor has facilitated the process with cross portfolio visibility, quick reports, and the ability to spot trends and make decisions faster," he said.
That speed shows up in more than reporting. Florida pointed to automation as one of the biggest shifts in how his team operates.
"QuikStor has made operating much easier for us through speed and automation. We've been able to automate repetitive tasks such as communication with tenants, delinquency, and payments across our portfolio. We're now able to streamline these processes and save time for our employees to attend personally to our customers and drive more revenue."
For a portfolio of Trojan's size, delinquency and lien management are everyday issues that can eat up serious time and expose serious risk if handled inconsistently property by property. Florida said moving to QuikStor changed that equation entirely.
"QuikStor has had a positive impact on delinquency and lien management. Since we've moved to QuikStor, we've actually brought that entire process in house and automated it. We are now centralized, saving time, improving efficiency, and reducing risk."
Cleanliness and quality are easy to promise and hard to deliver across dozens of properties in six states. Florida credits the same visibility that drives his reporting with keeping his standards consistent, too.
"QuikStor has given us visibility across our portfolio, with dashboards and lightning fast reporting that lets us accumulate all of our data in one place. We don't have to go and download multiple reports. We can see it all in one place. And then we can identify the trends in those dashboards to create immediate action items and maintain our level of service and quality."
Task management also plays a role, giving Trojan's teams a way to prioritize and close out the work that keeps properties safe, secure, and running at Trojan's standard.
We asked Florida the direct question: what would it take for Trojan Storage to leave QuikStor for another FMS?
"We feel very good, very safe, and well supported by the QuikStor team. I can't imagine anything that would make me change. If anything, I want to continue to partner with QuikStor to grow our relationship and solidify it over the years."
Part of that loyalty comes down to support. "That's one of the high points that we feel QuikStor has delivered to us," Florida said. "We feel that we're supported by a group of people who understand our business and are always looking to improve and accept our feedback."
Florida left us with one more thought, aimed squarely at operators still shopping for an FMS.
"Many operators don't realize QuikStor is a company at the cutting edge of FMS technology. It's a company with a great legacy that completely rebuilt their platform a few years ago. If you remember the old QuikStor, you should actually take a second look, because it's ahead of the other options out there in the market."
His advice to any operator running five, ten, or fifty facilities and evaluating their options is simple. Don’t choose an FMS without taking a look at QuikStor first.
"QuikStor is backed by operator experience. It has a vast ecosystem of API connections with business partners that let you choose the right vendor for your own management style, plus the visibility and speed of reporting that lets you manage every property from one dashboard. If you're in the market for an FMS, I highly encourage you to look into QuikStor."
QuikStor is the modern SaaS operating platform for the self-storage industry, built by operators, for operators. Want to see what centralized visibility and automation could do for your portfolio? Talk to our team.