20 Leads a Month Per Facility Were Going to Voicemail. Now They're Becoming Tenants.
“This is quite bizarre talking to AI, but this is one of the best I've ever spoke with.”
— StoreAssure customer, after reserving a unit on a Sunday afternoon
20+
Facilities
~20
Leads Captured / Facility / Month
$1,400
New Recurring Revenue / Facility / Month
4 of 5
Payment Calls Resolved
About StoreAssure
StoreAssure manages over 20 self-storage facilities across California. Their portfolio spans urban and suburban markets where competition for tenants is fierce and every inbound call matters.
Brandon, VP of Operations, leads the team responsible for keeping every facility running smoothly — from on-site managers handling walk-ins to the systems that support remote operations across the portfolio.
The Challenge
Every missed call is a potential missed rental.
Like most operators, StoreAssure had a familiar problem: the phone rings when no one's free to answer. Prospective tenants call at lunch on a Tuesday — when the on-site manager is helping a walk-in and can't pick up. They call at 7 PM after loading a moving truck. They call on a Sunday morning when they realize they need a unit by Monday.
Whether it's during business hours or after, if the manager is busy or the office is closed, the result is the same — voicemail. And in self-storage, a voicemail almost never converts. The prospect just calls the next facility on their list.
Managers pulled away from walk-ins to handle phone calls
After-hours and weekend calls hitting voicemail boxes
Payment calls interrupting on-site operations all day
Prospects moving on to the next facility instead of waiting for a callback
An AI Agent That Actually Understands the Property
StoreAssure deployed Lumio at their first wave of locations with a deep configuration: payment processing, lead capture and reservations, billing support, gate access, and move-out handling — all integrated with their SiteLink FMS.
What surprised Brandon wasn't just the coverage. It was the quality.
“The Lumio agent isn't like a robotic AI agent — it sounds like a real person. It provides, frankly, a service that's sometimes a little better than some of our managers in the way it interacts with the customer and tries to understand their needs. It's not some robot with a monotone voice. It's got personality.”
— Brandon, VP of Operations, StoreAssure
The agent is customized per-property, matching each location's operational practices — from unit types and pricing to fee structures and access policies.
“It understands your property at the same level that any other manager would, because in a way, you get to build the agent for what you want at your property and your operational practices.”
— Brandon, VP of Operations, StoreAssure
Building Alongside the Operator
What stands out in talking to Brandon isn't just his satisfaction with the product — it's his relationship with the team behind it.
“What sets Lumio apart is the team behind it. When we bring something up, it's not just noted — it actually shows up in the product. That kind of responsiveness is rare. With most vendors you submit a ticket and wait six months. With Lumio, it feels like they're building alongside us.”
— Brandon, VP of Operations, StoreAssure
When StoreAssure has feedback — how the agent handles a certain call type, a feature they wish existed, or an edge case they've noticed — it doesn't disappear into a support ticket queue. It shows up in the product.
Brandon shares Lumio's weekly analytics email with his ownership group, and the response has been consistently positive. The dashboard, the FAQ management tools, new feature rollouts — each one deepens the integration between Lumio and StoreAssure's daily operations.
The Results
~20 captured leads, 2–3 reservations, and over $1,400 in new monthly revenue — per location.
~20 Leads Per Location, Per Month — That Would Have Gone Unanswered
StoreAssure uses an IVR during business hours that routes new rental inquiries directly to on-site staff. But when the manager is helping a walk-in, juggling another call, or the office is closed — those calls used to hit a voicemail box. Now they hit Lumio.
At StoreAssure's first two locations, Lumio captured roughly 20 leads per facility per month — calls that came in when staff were unavailable during business hours, plus evenings and weekends. Every single one would have gone unanswered before Lumio. Instead, prospects got a real conversation: the AI asked what they needed to store, recommended the right unit size, quoted pricing, and in many cases completed the reservation on the spot.
2–3 of those leads convert to reservations each month per location, generating over $1,400 per facility per month in new recurring revenue — from calls that previously had a low chance of converting.
“This is quite bizarre talking to AI, but this is one of the best I've ever spoke with.”
— StoreAssure customer, after reserving a unit for construction equipment with no human involvement
More Than 4 Out of 5 Payment Calls Handled Without a Human
Unlike leads — where Lumio catches calls staff can't get to — payment calls go to Lumio first, all day. It's the front line. Lumio's specialized payment agent processes payments over the phone or via secure text link, handles balance inquiries, explains fees and grace periods, and offers autopay enrollment — all without involving a manager.
The payment agent resolves more than 4 out of 5 calls without a human.
In one call, a tenant paid all three of his storage units in under three minutes — the AI processed each payment sequentially using his saved card. No hold time. No manager pulled away from a walk-in. Hundreds of payment calls are now handled this way every month across the portfolio. Delinquent accounts are still routed to a human for sensitive conversations — the AI knows when to step back.
Managers Free to Do What They Do Best
For Brandon, the real impact isn't about replacing people. It's about letting them focus.
“The fact that we know Lumio can answer the phone, take a message, process a payment — and I don't have to worry about my manager not interacting with that customer or missing out and not giving their full undivided attention to the customer in front of them. That's where Lumio really shines. It just makes it easier for the manager to do their job and rent out units.”
— Brandon, VP of Operations, StoreAssure
One of StoreAssure's site managers put it more simply: she loves it. She loves that when a customer walks in, she can give them her full attention — because she knows the AI has the phones covered. She trusts it.
Beyond payments and leads, the AI handles billing questions, sends gate codes via text, processes move-out notices, and explains fee structures — the kind of calls that used to interrupt a manager's day dozens of times.
Operational Impact
From missed calls to net new revenue — without adding a single hire.
~20 captured leads per facility per month
Calls that used to hit voicemail during walk-ins, after hours, or on weekends now reach a real conversation — with unit recommendations, pricing, and reservations.
$1,400+/month in net new recurring revenue per facility
2–3 reservations per location per month from overflow calls that previously had a low chance of converting.
4 out of 5 payment calls resolved without a human
Hundreds of payment calls handled per month across the portfolio. Saved cards, secure text links, autopay enrollment — handled end-to-end.
Managers focused on the customer in front of them
On-site staff trust the AI to cover the phones, freeing them to give walk-ins their full attention without juggling rings and voicemails.
The Confidence to Go Remote
Lumio hasn't just improved StoreAssure's existing operations — it's opened up an entirely new operating model. Brandon sees the platform as foundational to StoreAssure's remote management strategy: operating properties without full-time on-site staff.
“If we didn't have Lumio, we wouldn't even bother with remote management at all.”
— Brandon, VP of Operations, StoreAssure
With the AI handling phone calls, payments, gate access, and lead capture around the clock, StoreAssure can confidently manage new facilities remotely — something they wouldn't have considered before. Lumio gave them the coverage and reliability they needed to make the leap.
Expansion Across the Portfolio
After seeing results at their initial locations — improved answer-call ratios, new revenue from leads that would have gone unanswered, managers free to focus on leasing — StoreAssure is now rolling Lumio out across the rest of their 20+ location portfolio.
“Our owners like it. They like that our answer-call ratio has improved tremendously at the properties, even if it means just taking a message. That's way better than having it go to voicemail. Overall, we're very happy and our owners are happy, and we're looking forward to rolling it out to the rest of the portfolio.”
— Brandon, VP of Operations, StoreAssure
Brandon is also exploring Lumio's web concierge for online lead capture — another channel to meet prospects where they are.