Why Relying Only on VA’s Will Kill Your Deal Flow (And What to Do Instead)

In the fast-paced world of self-storage investing, it's easy to believe that scaling up means offloading everything onto your virtual assistants (VAs). After all, VAs can cold call, update CRMs, and follow scripts. But here’s the reality: while self-storage virtual assistants are a game-changer, relying solely on them can dry up your deal flow faster than you think.

At StorageLife, we’ve helped hundreds of operators launch and scale their self-storage businesses. We’ve seen firsthand what happens when entrepreneurs put their deal-finding engine on autopilot too early. The lesson? VAs are critical, but they’ll never replace you, the investor.

This post breaks down why VA reliance can hurt your growth, what roles they should be playing, and how to stay hands-on in ways that multiply, not dilute, your acquisition success.

The Illusion of “Hands-Off” Deal Flow

Once you get a few virtual assistants rolling, it’s tempting to think, “I’ve made it. The leads will now just pour in.” And in some ways, they do. With VAs doing daily cold calls, you may see dozens of new leads come through your CRM every week. But then something surprising happens.

You stop closing deals.

Why? Because more leads don’t mean more deals, not unless you or someone highly skilled is filtering, analyzing, following up, and creatively structuring those leads into opportunities.

The Real Bottleneck: You

In self-storage as an investment, the operator is the value creator. You’re the one who brings the instinct, experience, and creativity needed to turn a warm lead into a signed contract. VAs can’t:

• Detect emotional nuance in a seller’s tone

• Pivot quickly during a tough conversation

• Spot hidden value in a rough deal

• Build authentic rapport and trust over months

They can introduce you to deals, but they can’t close them for you. As we teach in our self-storage mentorship program, “The closer should always be you.”

Cold Calling Works—But Only If You Do Too

At StorageLife, we’ve generated over 7,000 leads in our CRM. That sounds impressive, right? But even with that many leads, there are likely 50+ potential deals buried in there that we haven’t converted—not because of bad data, but because follow-up requires a human touch.

Your VAs will never replicate the power of you picking up the phone, engaging an 80-year-old seller in conversation, and building trust over time. Most of our real deals? They came from owner calls that were personal, persistent, and patient.

That’s why our mantra is: “Cold calling works. But only if you're still calling.”

Diversify or Die: Don’t Rely on One Channel

Another pitfall is assuming your VA-led cold calls are enough. They aren’t. The best investors in our self-storage mastermind are active across multiple channels:

• Calling owners directly

• Building relationships with commercial brokers (not just storage brokers!)

• Attending local events and trade shows

• Using self-storage marketing letters for creative outreach

• Leveraging social media to attract leads and referrals

When your VAs are hitting the phones and you’re also calling brokers, analyzing deals, and showing up in-person, you multiply your chances of success exponentially.

You’re the Quality Control

Think of your business like a factory: VAs help produce volume, but you are quality control.

That means:

• You confirm which leads are real

• You decide what gets priority

• You analyze and structure offers

• You follow up on deals VAs would never catch again

And trust us: VAs miss deals. We’ve had owners who ghosted VAs for months but picked up when we called personally. Why? Because your call has authority. It says, “This person is serious.”

Delegation Done Right: A Partnership, Not a Pass-Off

The smartest operators know how to use VAs for what they’re best at:

• Data entry and CRM management

• First-touch cold calls

• Skip tracing and property research

• Appointment setting and call scheduling

• Tracking KPIs and follow-up calendars

Your job is to then take the hot or warm leads, make the second or third touch, and bring the deal home. This balance is what we call the “VA + Operator Flywheel,” and it’s one of the most effective systems we teach in our self-storage investing course.

A Personal Touch Beats Automation Every Time

One example shared on our mastermind call was an 81-year-old seller who said she was passing her facility to her son. Two months later? She sold it to another investor. The takeaway?

• Owners change their mind.

• They don’t remember your VA.

• They remember YOU.

Even a five-minute, sincere call from you can do more than 50 automated voicemails.

How to Prioritize Leads (And Avoid Letting Good Ones Die)

So what should you do with hundreds or thousands of leads?

At StorageLife, our team color-codes everything and uses a three-tier priority system:

• Red (High Priority): Large facility, older owner, solid market

• Yellow (Medium Priority): Smaller facility, moderate motivation

• Green (Low Priority): Unqualified or owner not ready yet

Then we ask key questions:

• How saturated is the market? (self-storage cap rate by state can help)

• Is this a self-storage as an investment we’d want to hold long-term?

• Can it be wholesaled or flipped through self-storage syndication?

We also track every follow-up call and aim for at least 7–13 touches per owner. Why? That’s how long it takes for them to remember your name.

Are You Still Calling Brokers?

Virtual assistants can’t replace broker relationships. Some of our best off-market deals came from calling general commercial brokers, not storage brokers, and asking them:

“Do you know any owners who might consider selling?”

Even if they don’t have something now, they might in a month. When your face or voice stands out, they’ll remember you. So make the call.

Tip: Skip the self-storage broker list and target local commercial brokers with self-storage properties in their past listings.

Build Your Own System—Then Improve It

Your system doesn’t have to be fancy. One of the most effective operators in our group uses a basic Excel sheet with colored columns and manual follow-up reminders. Why? Because they actually use it, daily.

You can eventually migrate to CRMs like Podio or Hubspot, but even the best CRM is useless if you’re not working it daily. That’s why consistency is the top KPI in our self-storage investing course.

Lead Follow-Up is a Full-Time Job

Our head of acquisitions, Michael, spends 6–8 hours a day following up, updating statuses, and personally calling warm leads. And he still can’t keep up with every lead in our CRM.

So don’t feel bad if you’re behind. Just be honest about your bandwidth and ask:

• Who else on my team can help?

• Am I calling back the right people first?

• Am I relying too much on automation?

You Never Know Where a Deal Will Come From

Here’s a story we share in our mentorship: One of our partners found a deal at a trade show in Las Vegas, right after losing a bunch of money gambling. It was pure chance. But he was there, networking, asking the right questions.

That deal made more than enough to wipe out the loss, and then some.

You never know when you’ll find a deal. But you’ll definitely never find one if you stop showing up.

Final Thoughts

Self-storage investing is about effort, repetition, and consistency. Virtual assistants are powerful, but they’re not magic. They’re a force multiplier for your hustle—not a replacement for it.

So don’t fall into the trap of automation addiction. Keep your hands in the game. Call sellers. Talk to brokers. Walk properties. Run your numbers. Be visible. Stay consistent.

And most of all—don’t let your leads die in a CRM when they could become your next million-dollar deal.

At StorageLife, we help you master the balance: VAs for scale, your hustle for results. If you’re ready to build your acquisitions machine the right way, join our self-storage mentorship or explore our self-storage investing course for tactical tools, templates, and coaching.