A Bag of Tricks for Customer Service

Without good customer service skills you could not punch your way out of a wet paper bag. Sales and low prices alone may get one sale in the bag, but it is not enough to bring customers back. Good customer service draws repeat business and that is what keeps most storage companies in business. If you fight your competition with low pricing rather than with excellent customer service, you will have to meet the customers expectations again and again if you want their repeated business. But doing so may sacrifice profit. However, if you begin with good customer service and win the battle over price, the customer will only expect the same great treatment. Getting involved in price wars is a very dangerous thing for any self storage company. It minimizes profits for you and your competition, and it will cause the customer to shop around again the next time they need self storage. On the contrary, if you compete with great customer service, most likely a customer will pay more to rent a storage unit with you and will come back when they need storage again. And that is how to make money, through repeat business and word of mouth. Here are some tips to practice good customer service skills.

Quickly, answer the phone in your most friendly voice. If you generally do not come off as a friendly person, then maybe you should not be in customer service. But if somehow you landed a customer service job, pretend you are someone else. Pick a person who everybody thinks is friendly, like a pastor. Answer the phone with a smile as if the customer was standing in front of you.

Do not make promises you cannot keep. This will only make the customer angry. If you sell a self storage unit over the phone and the customer comes in only to find out what you promised him is not available, most likely they will go to the competition. The customer assumes you used the bait and switch tactic whether you meant to or not. Not only is the bait and switch tactic not work, it is illegal. So make sure you have your facts straight before you make promises.

Good customer service representatives listen to their customers. Find out the wants and needs of your customer first. Let them tell you everything and ask questions. The more they reveal information about themselves, the more interested they are renting self storage from you. Plus, customer service can use that information to find the best storage solution for your customer. Some customers love to talk and will reveal things about themselves that will make you wonder, why are they telling me this. Even if it is about a true camping nightmare where the customer went rafting, had a close call with death, but ended up finding treasure in the shower. Hoo-ha! You just found out that this customer is a camper and a rafter. Now you can suggest storage for camping gear and boat storage. 

From time to time, all customer service jobs will have to deal with customers who have no intention to buy. Take the wireless phone service industry for example. Many people order phones through the internet and get it sent by mail. Often these customers will go into a store and ask a sales person for instruction on how to use the device. Taking your time to explain the phones key features could pay off in the long run. The customer may decide to buy a car charger or case one day and they will most likely come back to you. It may not be like finding a chocolate covered banana split by surprise, but it is all that and a bag of chips.

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