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We’ve recently discussed bending the rules for star or top employees. However, I’d like to submit to you that if the “star” or “top” employee is continuously bending the rules then they are in fact not the “star” or “top” employee. Wouldn’t the breaking of rules and disregard for company policies contradict the qualifications for being a top performer?

In my experience, once you bend the rules or let a few things slip employees will begin to push their boundaries further and further. I’ve worked for companies whose rules became almost non-existent because one or two employees who happened to also bring in a lot of sales thought they were above the rules.

This can do a lot of damage to the teamwork atmosphere that you should have in place. The employees who do follow the rules may feel that letting certain others get away with things is unfair. This can breed dissention among your crew.

Above damaging teamwork, bending or removing rules will, in the long run, damage your business. Some businesses are more casual and laid-back than others, but no matter what your management style, there must always be some ground rules.

It’s your job, as the manager or supervisor, to stand your ground. Sometimes employees who break the rules can be confrontational when you approach them about the issue. Don’t be afraid to be firm. At this point, giving in to them will only damage the morale and productivity of the rest of your business. Learn how to calmly instill in all your employees that the rules are not made to be broken.

Written by, Sarah Little, PhoneSmart Total Quality Assurance Executive.

Thanks for reading the apartment call center blog, the inside scoop on everything do to with self storage and the property management industry.

Your local self storage unit provider in 2403 Rangeline, Columbia MO 65202

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The slow season is here for storage. I could tell yesterday. It was the last Monday of the month and the phones were slower than we had hoped. Even though it is September, you would like to see and would think that you should see busy rental demand on the last few days of the month. We had a fair number of phone call, but less than projected. And the rental demand was rather soft, too.

This is the time of year when every rental really does count. People who moved in during May and June are stating to move out. The phones are getting quieter, so if you miss a rental today, you may not get another rental inquiry tomorrow.

It is also a good time to see what you can do to help people who are in your facility to stay for a while. If you could learn how to increase your length of stay for a few months, you would have a lot better winter than you might otherwise.

This is the time of year, we work on improving our already awesome speed to answer rates to make sure we get every rental we can fro our clients. I hope September treated you well.

By Tron Jordheim, Director of PhoneSmart and business blog writer.

Thanks for reading PhoneSmart’s property management blog, the ins and outs of the property management industry and an indicator of property management trends.

Your local self storage unit provider in 1575 Thousand Oaks San Antonio, TX  78232

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I take about 500 calls easily in a month’s time for our call center.  I try to keep the information I give the customer consistent.  Some of the call center’s self storage clients have only drive-up accessible units and then others may have only inside units. This is important information for the caller. There are some customers that want to know exactly how many feet the unit is from the door or the exact location.  These are questions that I cannot answer.

Although there will always be questions that I cannot answer I can give the caller the approximate location of the unit i.e., upstairs or downstairs as provided for me.

When I first began working at the call center I did not know the importance of these minor details. However as I gained experience and had personal tours of storage facilities, I realize the importance of details. In the storage business, people are different with very different needs and taking so many calls I have learned how to adapt to different peoples’ preferences. Some callers want the first floor instead of the upper floors as they want to get in and get out more easily. Others have told me that it is a hassle to go inside the building. Many prefer the nice easy drive up units accessible to pull directly to the door.

Regardless of what storage is needed, it is important for the caller to get as much information as possible before coming into the facility. It can be very frustrating for the caller if they were not told that the unit is upstairs and they were expecting a first floor unit or a drive up accessible. Providing this information can eliminate misunderstandings and make the whole process go more smoothly.
 
Written by Angela Perry, PhoneSmart apartment call center trainer and reservations specialist.

Thank you for visiting our call center blog, an insider diary of the self storage and property management industry.

Your local self storage unit provider in 9702 W. 67th St. Merriam, KS. 66203

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What can a supervisor do if a rule of the business is constantly broken? There are steps that can be taken that could end up in termination of ones current employment status.  A supervisor could verbally reprimand the offender of the rule.  If this does not work then a written non-verbal reprimand could be appropriate. Then perhaps the last resort of the repeated offender could be termination of employment. But what happens when your number one employee is the offender, or perhaps not your number one employee but the most dependable employee, or what if it is that employee that is always showing initiative and taking control?  If either a repeated employee or a variety of employees are consistently breaking the same rule, a supervisor should consider thinking of a way to bend the stipulations of the rule with still running a productive work environment.  This can be a difficult task for a supervisor to accomplish. What a supervisor must consider is if this particular rule is changed or bent, how will it effect the work environment.  The thought of “if my employees want this of me then what can I get of them,” should run through a supervisors head when making the decision to change a repetitive broken rule.  If this rule is changed, change it so that not only as an individual will grow or improve but so will the company. 
No matter if it is commercial, residential or an office setting that you are managing, compromising a rule to make it a win-win situation, will only increase the sales and value within your company.
 
Written by Angela Perry PhoneSmart business blog writer and call center blog writer.

Thank you for visiting PhoneSmart’s property management blog, the ins and outs of the property management industry, and property management trends. 

Your local self storage unit provider in 3985 Atlanta Hwy. Bogart, GA. 30622

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I have had the privilege of working in both sales/customer service and telemarketing. I have had good experiences in both fields. I never thought that I would have the patience for telemarketing. I have heard a lot of horror stories about it, so I was expecting the worst. It was the same way with sales. I have had little experience with sales other than the basic sales techniques. I’m starting to see distinct differences and I like sales more.  Working on the phones in an inbound call center is a lot different than an out bound cold call center.  While we do outbound calls as follow ups and to generate leads for sales increases for our client’s stores it seems much less intrusive to have the potential customers calling us.

Telemarketers learn how to be more on the aggressive side. That aggressiveness automatically turns customers off. You have a better chance to build a relationship with the customer.   The customer can also be turned off by telemarketing calls either early in the morning or during the weekend while we are trying to relax.  In sales/customer service, the customer comes to you. This is important because they are more open to hear what you have to say and more open to give information.

I’m definitely not saying that working sales is an easy job. However, in telemarketing you have a matter of seconds, whereas, you have a minutes to work with in sales. My final reason for liking sales/customer service over telemarketing is because you have a chance to help the customer out. In telemarketing you are seen as all about the sale. Working in customer service/sales you have a chance to provide a service to the customer. I have had good experiences in both sales and telemarketing. If I have to choose a career, then I would choose sales over telemarketing. This applies to nearly every business including property management and self storage.

Written by Robin Turner, PhoneSmart apartment call center manager.

Thank you for visiting the PhoneSmart call center blog.  We offer and insider view of the self storage and property management industry

Your local self storage unit provider in 718 Atlantic Ave. Brooklyn, NY. 11217

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When I first started working for PhoneSmart I noticed that a lot of college students who were calling for a storage unit (typically a small one i.e. 5×10) were calling when all of the 5×10 units were sold out. They didn’t really start calling us until mid-May, 2 weeks before they definitely had to be in a storage unit as they were going back home for the summer or moving to a new location after graduation.

My response most of the time to these callers were “I’m sorry, but we are completely sold out of all of the smaller units.” Many of these callers ended up renting units much larger than what they actually needed because nothing else was available. And quite a few even had to rent a 10×20 unit just so they could get into something, because everything else smaller was sold out. I

‘ve always made it a practice (for future reference) to especially explain to college students and other renters looking for 5×10 units who need it for the summer, that next time they need to call us in advance if they’ll need a unit during that time period because those sizes sell out so fast! If they tell me that they called a couple of weeks ago and we had it available then, I tell them “Well, that’s why we asked you to reserve it with a credit card… so you wouldn’t have to worry about it being here when you needed it. At this time of year the college students take up all of the smaller units.” I also let them know that in the future they should call the storage facility ahead of time and reserve it with a credit card to make sure they get one. (This also applies to locking in a special so they are guaranteed they get it even if the specials are pulled).

As each year goes by, I notice that more college students/college students’ parents are calling with advance notice that they’ll need a unit for the summer and are asking if there’s a way to reserve and rent a unit ahead of time. 

***Proof: A mother of a college student called me in March to reserve a unit and rent it one whole month in advance without hesitation, simply to ensure her daughter a unit so that she didn’t have to worry about getting it when she needed it. 

These well informed callers could bring a sales increase one month in advance. Even if you had 10 renters renting one month in advance at $80 a month, you’ve just increased your rental income by $800 and increased occupancy at your storage facility, too. Your boss will be impressed, and if you work off of commissions due to occupancy percentages then you’ve just increased your bonuses! So, even if you couldn’t rent to them this summer, learn how to educate them now so they’ll come back sooner than expected.  This one sales technique can add up to significant profits for your property management business.

Written by Robin Turn, PhoneSmart call center manager.

Thank you for visiting our call center blog.   We offer an insider view of the self storage and property management industry.

Your local self storage unit provider in 9012 NW Prairie View Rd. Kansas City, MO. 64153

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I just got finished reading an article that I thought was worthy of note, yet it seems like common sense knowledge. Apparently, common sense is not something everyone has the same amount of. The article basically says that if you can learn how to keep your customers happy, they will come back to your business.
According to John Tschohl, president of the Service Quality Institute, “Ninety-five percent of all business owners believe that their companies are exceeding customer expectations in terms of service.” That, Tschoho says, is far from the truth. Indeed, lousy service and poor communication ranks as one of the top consumer complaints, he adds. In a competitive economy, becoming a customer service leader is one of the least expensive ways of improving performance.
What systems do you have in place to handle customer service issues?
Tschohl also says, “Too many operate under the idea that there are an infinite number of customers and if someone doesn’t like how they run their business, too bad.” (Priority magazine, Sept/Oct 2006)

In our property management industry and self storage business we try to implement several things into our service. We try to listen to a problem the customer, future customer, manager or owner is having. We figure out what would best suit the problem at hand. We then do what we can to get the problem resolved. Does it always work? No, but we try pretty darn hard. We appreciate the business we have and the future business that will come from happy customers now and in the future.

By Natalie Thomas, business blog writer and Quality Assurance Executive.

Thanks for reading PhoneSmart’s property management blog, the ins and outs of property management trends.

Need Storage in Lenexa, KS? Conveniently located at 16101 W. 95th Street. Call or stop by to see our great facility, 913-888-4558.

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Taking calls at the call center keeps me on my toes as I may be answering a call from the east coast one minute and the west coast the next.  With self storage everything is repetitious with the exception of the price.  It becomes challenging when I end a phone call about storage and then answer a call for an apartment.  I then become an apartment call center representative. 

Answering the phone for the apartments is very similar to that of answering phones for storage.  The trick to answering phones for apartments is to learn how to include the five agreements, (timeframe, location, size, security and price) with professionalism and grace.  For an example a typical storage question is, ”Do you know what size unit you need or can I help you determine that?”  Of course you do not want to say this when discussing apartments.  A more appropriate question for apartments is “How many bedrooms or bathrooms are you looking for?”  Either question you are determining size, which is one of the five agreements. 

A common phrase that we can use in the call center when answering phones for storage is that we can say that there is not a long term contract as it is done month to month.  This phrase does not work with apartments, as generally there is a lease and the lease is for 12 months unless otherwise noted.  With a storage call, we are trained to ask for a credit card reservation but this is not needed for an apartment call.  The one similarity in both calls is that I can ask the caller to come in for a site visit or an appointment to see the lay out of an apartment.  Although it is different being in an apartment call center rep, it is fun to do from time to time and offers a change of pace.

Written by Angela Perry, PhoneSmart call center trainer and business blog writer.

Thank you for visiting the PhoneSmart call center blog, where we offer and insider view of the property management industry.

Great Self Storage location in KC, MO, at 75th and Wornall by the Walgreen’s and Wendy’s. All units are inside, climate controlled and have roll up doors.

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Communication within your management company is key. PhoneSmart manages sales and training for over 100 clients; this is in addition to taking their inbound sales calls. It’s important that each of the administrators and managers within our company maintain an open line of communication with one another regarding changes occurring to each individual client’s account.

Although the tools are in place for us to note conversations and mark changes, we sometimes become busy, or make a change and say to ourselves we’ll write it down later. Later, we get busy doing other tasks and forget to write it down. Every now and then we can trip over one another, trying to fix the same thing or fix something that was already addressed and not written down.

Learning how to work together as a team is an important fundamental to any business, small or large. With each of us filling in our niche, it could become easy to isolate ourselves from our coworkers. Left unattended, communication withers away. It has to be a focus point and kept in the front line in order to work properly.

After a small miscommunication occurs people can become frustrated or offended, and that can be harder to overcome that the communication problem itself. Neglecting communication is a destructive practice.

Think about what gaps there may be between the top of your ladder and the middle or bottom. One good idea may be to have a monthly or quarterly meeting just so you can see faces you may not otherwise see on a day to day basis. How can your daily communication improve? What are you doing now that works well?

Written by Sarah Little, PhoneSmart Total Quality Assurance Services Executive

Thanks for reading our property management blog, where we discuss the life of our self storage and apartment call center.

Self Storage in Texas
1575 Thousand Oaks 
San Antonio, TX 78232 
Manager: Zach Goetz & Nicolas Morales 
Ph:(210) 494-0628 
Fax:(210) 494-3328 

Have access to your storage unit 7 days a week. Call today to receive your $50 coupon.

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More self storage and other industries are moving to call centers and apartment call centers for their customer service needs. If you answer for one of these industries, the minute you pick up the phone you are the company. There are many different factors that lead to a positive impression to the callers. One of the five main factors is the willingness to assist customers.
 
One day I needed assistance from a cell phone customer service line to explain why my phone couldn’t connect to the Internet network. I had already called the customer support call center and the rep told me that I should purchase an additional plan to get Internet service for my phone. I needed the Internet so that I can download ring tones for my cell phone. When I called the customer service rep, she informed me that there was no such plan. I tried to explain what I had been told but she kept cutting me off. She advised me to contact technical support and have them send information to my phone. I told her that I had already gone through those steps. She said, “I guess you need to get a new phone.” That was not only unprofessional, but that was extremely rude.
 
It’s always important to make a good impression on the phone to make the experience as positive has you can for the customer. This is especially important in the self storage and property management business because people are already on edge about speaking with someone not there locally on site. Self storage associations across the country should learn how to implement the willingness to serve in all of their sales techniques. This would create more positive trends with call centers being noted for positive customer service rather than the bad impressions already associated with them.
 
By Ronald Smith, PhoneSmart call center reservations operator, and business blog writer.

Thank you for reading the PhoneSmart call center blog, where we explore the ins and outs of the property management industry.

Need Storage in Jefferson City, MO? We are located at 2420 St. Mary’s blvd, between Remax and Staples. We are the only JC facility that is on pavement. Call 573-634-4474 for details.

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