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Finding Something in Common
By admin on July 17, 2006 | No Comments

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Robin Turner, PhoneSmart call center manager offers advise on connecting with a caller
Welcome to the PhoneSmart secret shopping blog an inside peek at the mystery shopping and secret shopping industry.

This past week, reviewing calls with our newer employees who haven’t had any experience in a self-storage or in a call center, I’ve noticed that one of the main things that they needed help with was “relaxing”. Being themselves seem to be a bit difficult when you need to make sure you are listening to the customer and getting the correct information as well as giving the correct information. Also keeping your end goal in mind, which is commitment from the caller to come in and rent a unit at the facility.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to find something in common with your callers. Finding something in common will help build a rapport with your caller. They’ll get more comfortable with you on the phone and start to trust you. In order for someone (well, most people) to give you a credit card over the phone, (especially these days with the fear of identity theft), you really have to build trust with your callers before you can ask for a credit card to reserve a unit.

Anyone can find something in common or bonding somehow with your caller. They give you their name… maybe it’s the same name as your dad’s. Or they have children coming back to live with them for a short period because they are going through a rough time and you have gone down that same road. Maybe someone has a family member leaving to serve the country and you also know of someone who is and has gone through that.

Get on their level and communicate what you have in common and that you understand what they’re going through. They will be so thankful that they are actually talking to someone who is listening to them and can relate to their situation. You’ve just broken down some barriers that could have prevented the reservation or rental from them. They will be forever grateful. It’s not hard to just… Find Something In Common.

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Fix it, and then forget it
By admin on July 11, 2006 | No Comments

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Natalie Thomas Secret Shop Specialist adds insight about human relations.
Welcome to our blog, the PhoneSmart call center staff adds an insider view of the self-storage industry.

I saw a slogan the other day and it really made sense. It said, “Fix it, then…forget it!”

Whatever the day may throw at you, don’t let speed bumps in your day get you down. Fix the problem then forget about it. Sounds easier said than done. I tend to stall on the top of the speed bump and not roll down the other side of forget it. Sometimes my mind doesn’t seem to want to forget about it, whatever it may be. If you think about it, it does make sense. Some people store up all of their anger and then boom, they explode. Not healthy.

I have been trying to use this slogan lately at work. Our jobs are based on a monthly time frame. We start the month off with a fresh batch of calls, and as the calls get done, they get sent to the evaluators who in turn send them back to us when they are completed. Once they are completed the calls and evaluations get sent to the clients. Once in awhile, there is a speed bump and we have to stop whatever we are doing to “fix it.” It usually doesn’t take long and everyone is happy again. To make sure we don’t have a lot of speed bumps, we check and double-check the evaluations and calls before they are sent. But alas, mistakes will pop up. So…it’s best to “fix it, then forget it!”

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My Thoughts On Role Playing
By admin on July 10, 2006 | No Comments

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Julio Montes, PhoneSmart call center evening supervisor speaks out about role-playing.

Welcome to the PhoneSmart call center blog an insider view of the secret shopping industry.

I can say I have been one those employees that have been in sales and have hated doing role-plays. At my previous sales employer, the openers usually did them before the store opened. The managers or supervisors would also make us do them when business was slow on the sales floor and at other times. Don’t get me wrong; I didn’t hate them just to hate them. I understood the importance of them. How else were we going to practice what we were going to say to customers without actually using real customers? It would be terrible just to fumble our way through a sale. My problem with the role-plays was that they didn’t seem challenging enough. Every time we just walked through the script and the employee playing the customer would just say yes to everything the employee said. Honestly, how often does that happen in real life? I say about one customer in about 100 that I had there agreed to everything I recommended without questioning. Everybody else didn’t. So what was the point of rehearsing with the most infrequent customer? From what I found supervisors and managers had quotas to meet with evaluations on employees, so that’s all they were really interested in, not our learning.

Here at PhoneSmart, however, the role-playing serves a little bit different purpose and still accomplishes the same main goal. Our role-plays have more of a point. We go through different screens to be exposed to the several companies we answer for. We get thrown curve balls to make sure we are actually paying attention to our screen. It’s done that way because the self storage calls that actually come in are unpredictable. We have to be aware of all things on the screen and what the customer is looking for. And the more familiar we can get with different screens, the better we will be able to serve our callers.

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4 Steps to using your Mystery Shops
By admin on July 4, 2006 | No Comments

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Sarah Little, Secret Shopping Specialist at the PhoneSmart call center offers suggestions on making the most of the secret shops.

Welcome to the PhoneSmart Secret Shop blog, an insider view of secret and mystery shopping

The key to secret shopping isn’t getting a clear recording, or even an accurate evaluation, it’s implementing what you hear yourself saying and doing! Don’t get me wrong, recordings and consistent evaluations are vital to helping you but perhaps recognizing your strengths and weaknesses are more important.

Think about it, if I send you an evaluation that says you do well at selling your amenities but your close could be strengthened by doing a few things differently then it’s up to you to take that advice or leave it.

The best way to implement your mystery shops would be to review them in this order:

1. Listen to your call. (Yep, listen to it yourself before you even look at the eval)

2. Be honest with yourself and think about what you did well, and what you maybe didn’t do as well.

3. Look at the evaluation and be open to the suggestions it offers.

4. Make a goal for yourself. Pick out one or two areas of the eval form that you’re going to work on in the next month and strive to excel in that area.

(Put a sticky note by the phone to remind yourself if you need to.)

I believe that going about it this way is best for your own personal development as well as your business’ growth. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.

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Fix It, then Forget It
By admin on June 30, 2006 | No Comments

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Written by Natalie Thomas, ultimate secret shopper.
Welcome to PhoneSmart’s secret shopping blog, an inside peek at secret shopping and mystery shopping.

I saw a slogan the other day and it really made sense. It said “Fix it, then…forget it!”

Whatever the day may throw at you, don’t let speed bumps in your day, get you down. Fix the problem then forget about it. Sounds easier said than done. I tend to stall on the top of the speed bump and not roll down the other side of forget it. Sometimes my mind doesn’t seem to want to forget about it, whatever it may be. If you think about it, it does make sense. Some people store up all of their anger and then boom, they explode. Not healthy.

I have been trying to use this slogan lately at work. Our work is based on a monthly time frame. We start the month off with a fresh batch of storage and other calls, and as the calls get done, they get sent to the evaluators who in turn send them back to us when they are completed. Once they are completed the calls and evaluations get sent to the clients. Once in awhile, there is a speed bump and we have to stop whatever we are doing to “fix it.” It usually doesn’t take long and everyone is happy again. To make sure we don’t have a lot of speed bumps, we check and double check the evaluations and calls before they are sent. But alas, mistakes will pop up. So…it’s best to “fix it, then forget it!”

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Cupcakes Take The Cake
By admin on June 7, 2006 | No Comments

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Submitted by Angela, trainer, call center rep and dedicated mom.
Welcome to PhoneSmart’s secret shopping blog, and inside peek at secret shopping, mystery shopping and customer service issues.

With my son’s birthday approaching faster than what I would like, my frustration level is increasing. At the last minute I remembered that I wanted to save some extra dollars so I elected to bring my own cupcakes instead of using the cake that was provided by the location of the party. His birthday is Saturday and today is Friday and I ordered them today. The lady that answered the phone was very friendly. She detected my frustration, and asked me when I needed the cupcakes. I laughed and replied tomorrow. I began spilling my guts to her about the hardships that I have had with the party and my car. I laugh now mentally because this is exactly what our customers do to us when we are on the phone. It was quite amusing. But after I told her more information than I know she cared to hear, she explained to me that there was a 24 hours notice requirement for the cupcakes to be picked up. At this point I sighed but I understood. She then told me that she could have them ready tomorrow by 8:30AM and I was happy. I went on and on thanking her and telling her how much I appreciated it.

Again, I began to ramble about the time of his party and then having the number of kids and on and on. She empathized with me, as she is a mother as well and told me, “No matter how much one prepares for the party something always goes wrong.” I smiled and said,” Thank you.” She then gave me her name and told me that she would try to let me sleep in so I could call her at the end of her shift and she will try to get them ready for me to pick them up today. I thanked her over and over and I was really appreciative of her efforts even if I had to pick them up tomorrow morning.

This high level of customer service will leave a lasting impression on me, as I will remember that when I was frustrated someone tried to eliminate that frustration. I truly believe that she went above and beyond! So Anna at Wal-Mart we thank you!

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I’m not a Sales Person
By admin on June 1, 2006 | No Comments

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Robin Turner call center manager speaks out about the difference between sales and service

Welcome to the Phone Smart call center blog. We give the inside view of the mystery shopping industry

All too often I hear… “I’m not a sales person. I don’t feel comfortable being pushy.”

If you don’t believe in your product, then you won’t do well. Your attitude will also have bearing on how well you do the job. It is just like anything else. If you go in with a positive outlook, then you’ll have a higher percentage of positive results.

Our customer service reps main job is to answer the caller’s questions, be friendly, professional, and take care of the customer to the best of his or her ability. If you do that, then you should feel comfortable in the position. This is also the goal of the “sales person”… with maybe just a little more motivation.

For people who feel uncomfortable with the being called a “salesperson”, here’s a tip for you… If you give the best customer service you can, then you’re also a sales person. You’re there to meet the needs of the customer as well as follow company guidelines.

If you give your customer the best experience by giving them all of the information that they need to make an educated decision without them having to ask you for all of the information and you believe that what you have or what you can do for them would be in their best interest, then you’ll make a great “sales person”. And if you don’t like the title “sales person”, then go with “customer service rep”. It all falls hand in hand.

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Customer Care
By admin on May 30, 2006 | No Comments

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Ronald Smith a call center representative at the PhoneSmart gives insight on issues in customer service

Welcome to our Secret Shopping blog, an inside peek at the secret shopping and mystery shopping industry.

The number one complaint about customer service representatives is that they seem not to care about helping the customers. The perception is that callers have to wait too long to get to customer service or there isn’t a customer care department in place to take the complaints of callers.

According to the website my3cents.com, the airline industry, Dell, and cell phone companies lead in these type of complaints. There are several ways to improve on this perception.

In our organization customer service is our number 1 priority. Our training program here makes it known to us that excellent customer service is our goal. There are just some of the things that I have noticed when I have call customer service numbers in the past. The first thing I believe the customer service industry can do is to make sure that the company as a whole has a commitment to quality customer service. At our company, we try not to keep the customer waiting for a long period of time. There is nothing I hate more is waiting for someone picking up the phone. I especially hate waiting when I have an emergency or immediate problem I need to deal with and the annoying music doesn’t help me any. I believe that every company, especially a highly competitive industry as self-storage should have a list of managers or a central number where customers can call and voice their concerns or complaints.

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Do you have any other questions?
By admin on May 25, 2006 | No Comments

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Angela Perry, PhoneSmart call center trainer talks about the “heroic” customer service at our self-storage call center

Welcome to our Secret Shopping Blog, an inside peek at the secret shopping and mystery shopping industry.

Last Sunday fifteen members of our church fellowship gathered at a local family restaurant for lunch. Because Sunday is so busy, this buffet service restaurant does not allow reservations so everything is on a first come-first served basis. When we were seated, the waitress bought us plenty of plates and even all the utensils that we needed. I was happy to know that she was willing to accommodate our every need. It was about a ¼ of the way through the meal and the plates were running low, she would gather the soiled plates and then continue with her “rounds” and restock our table with clean plates. I watched her closely, as she was attentive to needs for drink refills and hot fresh rolls. We do not always find this high level of proficiency and service in the self-serve all-you-can-eat restaurants. As the dinner went forth she asked us if there was anything that we needed and if one person needed something she was sure to meet their needs.

This is much like our efforts here at PhoneSmart to meet our caller’s needs. The food at the restaurant was very good but it was the friendliness and attentiveness of the waitress that made the experience an enjoyable one. This is a reminder to all, not only in the sales industry but customer service as well…please be aware of your customers needs. There may be something that they are wanting but did not ask for it. When you ask your customer if there is anything else they need you are exceeding the customer’s expectations. It lets them know that you are dedicated to meeting their needs. It is very easy to forget an important question when you are shopping around. “Do you have any other questions” is a simple question, which can also put the caller at ease and let them know that they can ask you for anything.

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Self Storage Sales Techniques
By admin on May 1, 2006 | No Comments

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By Sarah Little

Today I tried to knock out some of the few shops we have left for this month. We usually end up with the same few stragglers. As I made my shops today, rather than asking,”How much is…” I simply asked what the access hours were. A surprisingly large percentage of the managers let me get away with it. Of course if they asked me if I needed anything else I’d go into the regular, “How much is…” mode.

I made the calls this way because some caller’s don’t know what they should ask when looking for storage. The average Joe isn’t going to call and say, “Yes, I’d like a 10×10 to put my one bedroom apartment in because you have a really great location and fantastic security. Can you reserve that with my credit card?” These are all things your managers should be determining throughout the call.

A good rule to follow when talking to prospective customers is to ask these questions:

1. How soon do you need storage?
2. What will you be storing, so I can find the best size for you?
3. Are we a convenient location?
4. (This one’s not a question, but it’s important)
Let me tell you about our great security…

Unfortunately not many asked if I needed help with storage. It’s always a good idea to ask every caller if they need help with storage. You may be able to find a few more rentals this way. And you’ll be providing better customer service. Hopefully when these managers hear their call they’ll see what may be done differently next time and when it’s the real thing they’ll be ready to get that rental.

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