A Small Giant in the Big City

How do you get Europeans and South Americans to fly out to Brooklyn to see a warehouse full of cardboard boxes? Be the best darn file and record storage and destruction company in the nation, that’s how.

CitiStorage, a medical and court record storage company in Williamsburg, has a business model to brag about, currently stores 4 million boxes, adds 450,000 additional boxes to its warehouse each year, and was the first stop on a tour of the best small businesses in the nation.

The tour is hosted by Small Giants, an organization of businesses that concentrate on giving back to the community, dedication to customer service, and the creation of excellent workplace environments instead of growing into mega-businesses.

Two top companies from Brazil and the Netherlands came to learn from the 29-year-old Brooklyn-bred company how to be great, rather than big.

“The key to greatness is knowing that the business is a living, breathing entity. It has to be taken care of. We are more than an archival storage facility, we are human,” said Elaine Brodsky, who co-owns the business with her husband Norman.

The secret to nurturing a business into success is taking care of the employees. CitiStorage matches its employees’ 401(k) with 160 percent, gives commission for a job well done constantly, conducts learning, team-building, and attitude seminars regularly, and fills most open positions through internal hiring. CitiStorage boasts that 80 percent of its employees have worked there from two to 15 years and the top management has been there for 25 years.
Another Brodsky secret is to never say “no” to a customer. In 1990, when CitiStoage was a courier company under a different name, a customer asked an employee if they could store some boxes. The employee asked Mr. Brodsky and he said yes, took the customer’s 27 boxes and three decades, three new buildings, 300 employees, and 4 million more boxes later, CitiStorage is now the nation’s biggest and most successful privately owned archival storage facility. Mr. Brodsky said the lesson learned was that the customer and employee knows more than you.

Yet another secret is that CitiStorage hires its employees for an attitude, rather than skills. CitiStorage hires mentally and physically challenged and formerly incarcerated people through organizations to give people a second chance in life.

“We can train anybody to do anything as long as they have the right attitude to do it,” said Mr. Brodsky.

A true sign of being a Small Giant and a successful business is keeping its employees no matter what the economic situation is. The Brodsky’s, unlike most businesses, did not fire one employee because of the recent economic recession.

“We refused to participate in the recession. We told our employees if they do their job they will keep it,” Mr. Brodsky said.

The tour of the facility and the business model inspired the foreign visitors.

“We are a small giant in the Netherlands and we came to the US to learn news ideas and spread ours. We have played an international role in giving back to communities from South Africa to Argentina, but because of CitiStorage we are going to focus on our local neighborhood,” said Salem Samhoud the founder of &Samhoud, a consulting firm in the Netherlands, which was voted the number one place to work in Europe two years in a row.

CitiStorage has a long resume for giving back to the Williamsburga and surrounding Brooklyn neighborhoods. The Brodsky’s host annual holiday parties for the community, including Independence Day and Christmas, and also host fundraisers for physically and mentally challenged children, Thanksgiving food drives, and organize a “Santa” event to dole out gifts for children in surrounds public schools which started over a decade ago.

As much as CitiStorage gives back tot he community, it also gives back to its employees with cash rewards if the company uses an employee’s suggestion from the suggestion box, gives out sweat shirts for perfect attendance, and holds competitions for selling the most boxes, holiday decorations in the office and Halloween costume competition. CitiStorage is composed of a team of individuals who work together for a passionate cause, giving the best and cheapest service to every customer. Each client meets every one of the 300 employees when they first sign a contract, making business personal.

“The people in this room are all interesting with great individual stories. It’s not about money and big business, but individualism, personality, and philosophy,” said Raul Candeloro, who founded Editora Quantum, a magazine publishing company with his wife and sister in Brazil. “The employee recognition and empowerment that CitiStorage uses will translate well in Brazilian culture, it’s universal.”

Bo Burlingham, the editor of Inc. Magazine included CitiStorage in his book “Small Giants,” which is a book about best small business in the nation. He thinks CitiStorage has a business plan to die for and a must if a business wants to make it to the top.

“This is a Brooklyn company, forgettaboutit! What makes CitiStorage work is the close relationship with customers, employees, and suppliers. It’s a natural characteristic that makes this business tick,” said Bo Burlingham.