» Customer Service

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In the business world today, you have to be good with the customers that you deal with. With good customer service, you can ensure that you will have a great chance for success. Some companies have a planned way they provide customer service in the aspect of talking with the customer and finding out about their lifestyle. Some companies allow their merchandising to do all the customer service for them. There are some good ways and some bad ways to take care of the customer. Anyone can get into a huge debate on which way is the best.

Think about the last time you entered a place in which you were taken care of. Whether it was in fine dining or in looking for a self storage unit, you have had the opportunity to have great customer service. What made that customer service so great? What made you so impressed that you wanted go back to that property again? That is what many businesses are asking the customer these days to find out how they can better serve the customers at their business versus their competitors.

It is very hard to find a way to differentiate the customer service experience from one competitor to the next. Everyone tries to do what they can to outsmart, outlast, and outthink their competitors. In self storage, some companies take training classes on how better give customer service to those people that call. They often have specials that would definitely gain the callers attention and they invite them down to take a tour of the facility. Some storage facilities give away a free truck or lock in order to gain the customers business. However, let us remember, the name of the game is customer service, not what can we give them for free to rent or buy.

Customer service is only as good as your passion. If you do not honestly care what you are doing, you are not going to deliver great customer service. You can fake many things but genuinely caring about the customers needs is hard to fake. You need to ensure that you have people that will talk to the customer face to face and will give outstanding customer service. You know when you have given great customer service when the customer is happy when they are leaving, sings your praises, and understands what they have to do next if they are purchasing something from you. If there is any confusion, the customer service you just gave has been downgraded to just ok.

Providing great service to the customers is not hard. Everyone on this earth can deliver some kind of service to the people they meet. The level of service to the customers depends on many things. Those thinks could include:

• How trained they are on what they are selling
• If they care to help the customer
• If they are having a bad day outside of the workplace
• How they feel about you as a manager
• How they feel about the people they work with
• The environment they work in

Many factors could help determine what level of service the customer receives. As a manager, it is up to you to ensure that your associates give the customer service they deserve.

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Customer service is the one of the greatest jobs around. Being able to help people is a wonderful feeling. It is very rewarding to know that someone was able to get through a situation because customer service made everything ok for them. No matter if it is just answering customers questions or showing them where something was. It is always rewarding to see a happy customer.

Customer service covers such a wide range of services rendered to people just to name a few for example, nursing homes, grocery stores, libraries, valet parking, ushers at church, paying bills, 1-800 numbers, cable services, storage rentals, bank tellers, and the list could go on and on. These people make a real difference in how any business will flow as far as the public is concerned.

If a customer service representative is not polite, and or a courteous person, as well as knowledgeable, they can cause a company to have a bad reputation simply by word of mouth from dissatisfied customers. They will spread the word of bad customer service at the particular company, and for the most part people piggy back on rumors, not caring to check out facts or see for thermselves, being professional at all times, and putting the customers needs before your personality is the number one rule to a good customer service representative. 

Customer service has such a massive range of service that is rendered through out the community. To go into an establishment like a very elegant restaurant, or a top of the line Hotel, or just anywhere, where customer service is the first point of contact you have with anyone or anything.  It makes a world of difference in what you think of a place, or even how comfortable you feel about being there.

If customer service is not at the top of there game so to speak, or doing everything possible to make a lasting impression on the customer then you have lost the customers interest right off the bat, first impressions or lasting ones. It is a fact of customer service.
No one wants to feel like they are being ignored or that no one wants to assist them so to hear it in a customer service representatives voice or to be able to sense it is a travesty for the company that customer service representative works for. Not to mention the rippling affects it can have on customers that have not even visited the establishment.

It is vitally important to have your customer service department understand that they are the meat and potatoes of the company. Customer service is the first point of contact most of the time, no matter what the nature of the situation is. From transferring the call to answering the questions, to whatever the case, customer service is the initial point of contact.

No one likes to be made to feel as though they are not important or what they have to say is not worth listening to. So the customer service department has to come across as though that customer is the most important person they will or have to deal with. Your tone of voice can convey your sincerity as well as the expressions that are made or felt by the customer.  So remember the customer is the most important person you will ever deal with no matter how they may get on your last nerve or how bad you may want to reach out and touch them.  Never take it personal it is always business with a smile. Be polite and keep it moving.

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What do you expect great customer service to look like? Do you expect the same level of customer service wherever you go? What does great customer service mean to you? These are all questions that most business asks them to ask customers so they can improve their business results. Many business need to know how they can ensure better customer service to all the people that use their services or buy their products.

When you enter a grocery store, what kind of customer service are you expecting? Most likely, you will receive someone that says hi when you walk in and by when you leave. However, what do you expect while you are in the store. In some stores, you will see people stocking the shelves and talking to their friends instead of helping you. In those same stores, when you need help, you can never find anyone. Unfortunately, those kinds of stores are prevalent in our society. In thinking about this situation for a second though, do we need to be sold on a loaf of bread or have someone there to recommend which type of bacon is the best since there are a hundred different choices. Most people would say no, but it would be good to have someone there when you needed it.

There is an example of a store that does provide great customer service and they are a grocery store. In some markets, this store exists and is owned by its employees. Therefore, this means that the employees take stock in how everything works within the store and ensures that every customer is greeted they walk by them. Now, they do not go around to each customer in store. That would be crazy and believed to be annoying, but they do not just walk past people without saying hello. Sometimes great customer service is that subtle hello or how are you doing. There was a customer that needed some rub for their steak. The customer had no idea what rub was or where to find it. Therefore, the store associate pointed, which is typical, to the aisle in which the rub was located. The customer could walk up and down the aisle and found the section where it should be, but still could not find it. They went back to the meat department and the associate informed his fellow staff members that he would be leaving the counter to go assist this customer. So to extend his great customer service, the store associate left his counter, mind you still covered in meat product, walked the customer across the store, helped them find the correct section, and then recommended a good rub that their wife would like. Now that is great customer service, from a grocery store nonetheless.

In the example, you saw above, great customer service could come from the unlikeliest sources. There is one, which should be the best at customer service because their livelihoods depend on it. Of course, that field is anything having to do with commission. With the people who work on straight commission, it is expect for their level of customer service to be outstanding. However, raise your hands if you have ever encountered horrible customer service in a commissioned atmosphere. Exactly. Most times, the worst customer services come from those environments. They are pushy sometimes as well as rude. They do not take the time to get to know you, they are most of the time looking for a way to close the sale. Unfortunately, that is there job.

Having great customer service in your workplace, will help you take care of your customer base and have them return for more. Having the right people on your floor, answering your phones, or going out to customers houses, will be what makes or breaks the success of your business.

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The local weather station predicted freezing rain, snow and sleet but that did not stop us! We are an elite group of storage professionals who answer phone calls in an inbound call center located in a university town, Columbia, Missouri. The call center is located on the north side of town and is home to approximately thirty five storage sales a customer service professionals. The call center is open everyday except for Christmas and Thanksgiving. The storage sales and customer service professionals operate seven days a week approximately one hundred and twelve hours per week.

It was a Sunday afternoon in January 2007. One sales and customer service rep was in the comfort of her home checking her e-mail. She stumbled upon an e-mail from the boss (at first she thought he was joking). He was asking for volunteers to spend the night in the call center Monday night.  As she read the e-mail, she realized just how serious the situation was. The local weather station was forecasting freezing rain, snow and sleet Monday night and possibly Tuesday morning. It would be difficult or dangerous, maybe even impossible for the storage sales and customer service professionals to drive in such adverse weather conditions. The only other alternative would be to have the sales and customer service professionals work all day Monday and spend the night in the call center so that the call center would not be forced to close the doors due to the adverse weather conditions.

The rep quickly replied to the e-mail stating that he could count her in for the stay over. She arrived to work on Monday at approximately 6.30am with her favorite mink blanket, blow up mattress and grocery bag full of goodies. There were a total of four people who spent the night in the call center, because it takes a total of four people to open.  She lives by the old saying Early to bed, early to rise makes a women healthy, wealthy and wise. Needless to say, she was the first one down for the night but was also the first one up the next day!

Since then, her friends and family have asked her why she spent the night. Her answer is quite simple. We are dedicated to our faithful clients who depend on us to answer their phone, close sales and offer great customer service before and after business hours. We are an off site sales force who specialize in taking missed calls in the self storage industry. We are unstoppable!

Since the first sleep over, every time all public and private schools are closed, the roads are closed and businesses shut their doors, our call center sales and customer service reps get a twinkle in their eye and prepare to stand by their post. When the local weather station issues a severe winter storm warning or it looks like we could get four to five inches of snow mixed with freezing rain, we roll out the sleeping bags because our clients in Florida still need us to make a storage reservation for them.

Our sales and customer service focus is not only on the self storage seeker who finds himself reserving a storage unit over the phone with one of our customer service reps. Our customer service focus is on the self storage owner whose business counts on our offsite sales force to get the job done, no matter what Mother Nature has in store. Our call center and storage professionals truly are unstoppable.

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We have all gotten that customer service call before. The customer service call when the caller has about as much personality as blank sheet of paper, a wet blank sheet of paper. We have all heard that monotone voice saying, they need the prices for all of your self-storage units. You know that drone. And we look forward to meeting this callers self-storage needs with just about as much excitement and enthusiasm as we would if we were going to the doctors office for a routine physical, necessary, but not in the least bit fun.

Consider for a moment, just why it is that the caller may be droning on that that, oh so appealing monotone. The caller may be needing self-storage because of some sort of life tragedy. Maybe their Uncle just passed on to the Great Hereafter, and the rest of the family is fighting about what to do with all of his stuff, so the caller is getting self-storage until the dust settles.  It could be that caller just had a house fire, and he or she needs self-storage to sort out the remains of whatever did not get burnt to a crisp. Maybe the caller just found her husband in a compromising position with the next door neighbor, soap operas get their inspiration from somewhere, you know.

Certainly, all of the above scenarios sound very tragic, and of course we should exercise tact and sensitivity when dealing with self-storage customers with these kinds of customer service needs. Of course, not every callers self-storage customer service needs involve a three hanky tale of woe and tragedy. However, it is also quite possible that the caller could use a tiny bit of levity and customer service to brighten up what would otherwise be a chore of Herculean proportions.

Another thing to consider is that this may have been the third, eighth, or twenty fourth customer service call that the customer has made to a self-storage facility, and the calls are all starting to blend together.  Plus, the caller may also be looking forward to making self-storage customer service calls with as much enthusiasm as the aforementioned doctors office visit. Anything we can do as self-storage professionals to make ourselves stand out in a positive way, of course- will go a long way in finally making the self-storage sale.

And do not believe that it is just customers who have to deal with the monotony of enduring an entire slew of virtually identical customer service calls. This may well be the third, eighth, or twenty fourth self-storage customer service call you have taken today, and you would swear that all of the callers must be reading from a sheet, because they all sound alike. So it could well be that you need to crack a joke just to save your own sanity.

We do not necessarily have to be a finalist for a comedy show to be able to elicit a grin from our clients, nor do we have to be a clown to get a laugh. Likewise, the caller does not have to be dryer than plain white toast in Death Valley for us to start kidding around with them, funny self-storage customers appreciate jokes as well. Of course, if the caller really does have a flat line personality, then you got no love coming. Customer service wins!

That was a joke, by the way.

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What is customer service? Customer service is the provision of service to customer before, during and after a purchase. Customer service is designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction, that product, or the service has met the customer expectation. Well where has it gone?

Are we now in a society that does not want customer service? Or do we just not want to give customer service anymore? It is partly both. We have gotten so busy that when we call a place for service we just want the cost. We do not care what else it has to offer. We just want the cost and if any discounts. Look at gas stations now. We can pay at the pump but we use to have to go in to the station and pay. Now we do not even have to associate with the clerk working. When we are at the grocery store, we do not care about the checker or how her day is. All we care about is getting the groceries in the bag and getting them home. What ever happed to How are you?

Now on the flip side of this, we have treated people like this for so long that now we do not want to give customer service. If a clerk has tried to ask a customer how they are and the customer just mumbles or ignores them, then we can see how after a while of this the clerk would stop asking. Or if a customer comes in to their store and they do say Hi or ask how they are. The clerk probably thinks no one cares to talk to them. We also hire anyone who would take a minimum wage job, regardless of if they really care about customer service or even have experience with customer service.

So this may be even the fault of the employer who is hiring these people at minimum wage, instead of looking for someone with customer service skills. Do employers feel that they cannot afford to pay someone with good customer service skills or do they even consider if the people working for them have these skills? It really is some thing to think about.

If we could find where the problem is, then maybe we could help to change it. But if we did are we really going to start taking the time to be courteous to the employee working in the drive-thru? Or are we expecting them to change? It really is a group effort we should all try – the person who should be giving the customer service and the one that is expecting it back.

Not all customer service is gone. We still have companies who strive for their employees to give the best customer service they can. Some companies have training on this issue. We also have some people just by human nature who want to help people and want to be pleasant, friendly and courteous.

So the next time you are in the grocery store ask the checker how he or she is. When, you call somewhere, let the person on the other end tell you all about their product or services. Do not pay at the pump. Go in the station to pay and say hello to the clerk.

It takes just a little effort from all of the consumers, the companies and us.

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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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It is about time to take the lid off and reveal what is really going on at your self storage facility. But do not try to lift that lid yourself, hire a mystery shopping agency to do it for you. A mystery shopping agency can lift that lid right under your property managers nose without them knowing until it is too late. Were sales last year not what you hoped for? Do not blame the economy just yet. What is going on at your self storage property when you are not there? Do you ever feel that sales are good when you are there? That may be because your property managers act differently when you are present. However, the general manager of a self storage property cannot always be at a self storage location. So to keep your property managers sharp and alert as they are when you are present, call a mystery shopping agency and set up a secret shopping program.

Now this idea may not go over well with your property managers at first. In fact it may make them a little grumpy. Do not worry. They will get over it. They are probably grumpy when you are around and they perform better. Plus if they are not keen with the idea that you hired a mystery shopping agency, then maybe the property managers should find another place to work. Jobs are not supposed to be like a day at the beach. A mystery shopping program is the opposite of a flash in the pan. It will start off poorly with your property managers, and then it will get much better.

A mystery shopping agency can prevent a disaster too. If you have a new property manager who is on the job, he may have forgotten something vital during his training and might be giving false information about self storage to a customer. A secret shopper from a mystery shopping agency can catch this before a mess occurs. And depending on some mystery shopping programs, the problem can get fixed immediately.

A mystery shopping agency that uses their secret shoppers to train can fix an issue immediately. A secret shopper or mystery shopper pretends to be a real customer at first, but takes the lid off and reveals his true identity as a mystery shopper. Then the mystery shopper sheds that title and becomes a training coach. If there is a flaw with the property managers presentation, it gets fixed on the spot like a 15 minute oil change garage. This is also an opportunity for the property managers to ask the mystery shopper from the mystery shopping agency questions about his approach and ways to improve.

The general manager will think that the mystery shopping agency had performed magic when he sees an increase in sales. But it is not magic. It is more like tweaking with an engine like a mechanic. A mystery shopping agency conducts tune-ups, not miracles. However, their work may appear like miracles. The real issue is that we all run into slumps, just like baseball players. And it takes a good coach to get a ball player out of a slump. The same goes for salespeople. It takes a good coach or mystery shopper to fix a salespersons script.  If you feel like your property managers are in a slump, call a mystery shopping agency to coach them out of it.

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Are mystery secret shoppers really in the self storage business? The truth is yes, but mystery secret shoppers have penetrated just about every industry that caters to the public. So it is not surprising to see mystery secret shoppers in restaurants digging into some onion rings, at a gift shop buying a jar of some famous jam, and at a spa wearing a bathrobe waiting for the masseuse. Though they are not visible like spotting an impersonator in Las Vegas of a famous fat singer who was scrutinized for shaking his hips on national television, but mystery secret shoppers are everywhere like a snowman after a wintery storm.

So why are mystery secret shoppers in the self storage industry? The self storage industry is highly competitive. Just look around your town and count all of the new storage facilities that opened in the last decade. Whenever an industry is highly competitive like the self storage industry, you want to make sure your business is offering the best customer service possible. Otherwise, your business will lose customers to the competition.  Property managers have to sell self storage units. Units do not always sell themselves. Customers do not rent a self storage unit based on first business they find in the phone book. They shop around to see who is offering the best deal. So property managers must have great sales skills and even better customer service skills. And the best way to measure their skills is through mystery secret shoppers.

Why not measure customer service skills another way? Well, you could but to get the best analysis is through mystery secret shoppers. A property manager can always watch his employees conduct a sale and give advice based on his own observations. But there are two problems with this method. First, you are not getting the customers perspective. You see and hear what you want to see and hear as a property manager, but you do not know what the customer is thinking and experiencing. Second, you are not always going to be around to evaluate your employees. How do they act when the property manager is not around? This is where mystery secret shoppers come in. They can tell a property manager if the companys expectations are being carried through when they are at home or on vacation. Today must be your lucky day because there is a bonus third reason why mystery secret shoppers are a better method to evaluate your employees. Many property managers measure a salespersons performance based on numbers and revenue. This is not a bad method at all. But when times are slow, do you still base their performance on this method? A great salesperson might be closing all potential sales but he has very few people walking into the door and calling on the phone. Mystery secret shoppers can measure the salespersons sales approach first hand and report back to the property manager with any flaws or praise. 

One of the biggest misconceptions about mystery secret shoppers is that their job is to only look for flaws. This is only half right. Their other job is to find the salespersons strong points so they can be rewarded for their hard work and dedication. Sometimes their strong points are adopted and implemented in the training program. Many self storage businesses offer incentives and promotions based on the mystery secret shoppers scores.

So if you are a self storage owner or property manager, you should not be in shock. Hopefully, you have already seen the high rate of competition. If so, what is stopping you from hiring mystery secret shoppers?

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After months of settling an ugly divorce battle, you finally find yourself alone, but anticipating a new life in a new home in a new area. It is a hope that is both exciting and frightening.

However, the transition is not going as smoothly as you hoped for. The new house is not ready. It is still under construction, the builder swears it is the town holding up the permits, and it is supposed to rain for two weeks straight, pushing back the move in date. All you want is someone to give you an honest answer, someone to hear your cries and your complaints, and someone who is going to tell you everything will be alright. You need someone to lean on.

Times like these require a good customer service representative. The divorce process is a sensitive time even on the good days. Adding nuisances to the equation makes it a pure nightmare. Talking to a good customer service representative can be the difference between going totally bonkers or falling into serenity. This is why it is important for self storage property managers to be highly trained in customer service skills. You never know who is on the other end of the phone and what their situation may be.

If a home is not move-in ready, someone is going to need self storage until it is. Customers are not always going to reveal their reason for self storage, but the property manager needs to be equipped with customer service skills to be prepared for such sensitive times. A property manager needs to ask what the customer wants to store, but without asking for the reason. However, sometimes the reason is involuntarily spilled by the customer and the property manager needs to implement their customer service training. This is a critical time during the call. A property manager needs to ease the situation as much as possible. They need to reassure the caller that they will make the reservation and moving process as simple and trouble-free as possible. Then they need to follow through with their promise. A good customer service practice would be to put notes in the comment area of the reservation so if another property manager helps the customer check-in to the storage unit, they will know the situation and how to act.

Though, good customer service tells us to treat every customer special. This is true, however every customer has their own special needs. The self storage industry receives many different types of customers with diverse backgrounds and unusual situations. It takes good customer service training to be sensitive to the issue at hand. So a property manager with good customer service skills must also be diverse to transform a customers bad situation into a positive outcome. There is nothing a property manger can do to speed up the home building process, but he or she can ease the situation by taking care of the customers storage needs as simple as possible. Not only will good customer service skills create a happy customer, it will create a happy person. And that is something a property manager at a self storage company can feel good about.

That is why people become customer service representatives, to help people. It takes a certain personality to be a successful self storage property manager with great customer service skills. Often times you have to turnaround a bad situation and make it a good situation. And that is not always easy to do and handle. 

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