» Quality Assurance Services

My husband and I recently had a heated discussion about customer service. We come from very different sides of the coin on this issue. The discussion became almost an argument, with my wonderful hubby claiming he was never going to go into another store with me ever again. Ouch. That hurt.
Here’s the story – we went together to the cell phone store because I wanted to get a new phone and put my mother on our plan. I’d never been in a cell phone store before; my husband had purchased my phone. When I told the clerk my plans she was trying to explain different options to me, none of which I could currently take advantage of because of some sort of contract or eligibility or something. Anyway, I was so confused at all she was saying I became very frustrated. Not at her, but mostly because I couldn’t comprehend why I couldn’t walk in, get a new phone and add one to my plan. I had no idea it was that complicated.
My husband was almost embarrassed beyond belief. I was frustrated because as a customer my needs were not being met, and he felt bad for the chick on the OTHER side of the counter! Now that I’ve calmed down and looked back, I realize why this is.
My husband works in the retail industry, in management, so a lot of his job is talking to the really irate customers who ask to go over the head of the rep they are working with “to talk” to the boss. So in his head, I was acting like one of those customers, and his employees were just like the clerk at the phone store, who have no idea that I’m not mad at them, but I’m frustrated because I do not have her knowledge. So, my point is, understand that your customers have needs and they come to you to have those needs met. When they aren’t, they may become frustrated. His point: this person is working hard to try to meet your needs, but sometimes they can’t always be met. Try not to blame them.
When we both saw each other’s side of the issue we agreed the situation could’ve gone a little smoother. What does your self storage facility do to help the customer?

PhoneSmart, your offsite sales force call center located in Columbia, Missouri.

Written by Angela Lechtenberg, business blog writer and solo shopper.

Thanks for reading PhoneSmart’s secret shopping blog, an inside peek at secret shopping trends in the mystery shopping industry.

Your local self storage unit provider in 1200 US HWY #1 Key West, FL. 33040

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I was evaluating a secret shopping call from a manager of an unnamed storage facility.  The manager asked the customer for their credit card number in order to reserve a space for them.  The caller said no a couple of times and told them that they did not have a credit card to give them.  The manager then told the caller,” Well, if you have a brother or someone that has a credit card, have them give me a call and I’ll reserve this space for you.”  The caller didn’t seem to appreciate that suggestion and the call quickly ended after that. 

When it comes to sales, most time there are goals that we must meet.  Sometimes those goals come from our corporate team, our office manager or sometimes, ourselves.  When it comes to customers, most of the time they come to us because they have needs or wants.  When we come in contact with the customer, which wins out, the need to hit our goals or their needs and/or wants?  Both have the chance.

We could have a great opportunity to hit the goals that we need to hit and satisfy the customer’s need.  Whether or not we talk to the customer on the phone or we wait for them to grace our doors each day, they come to us for help.  How we handle it from there is totally up to the sales associate. 

When a customer tells us no on something that we believe they should have, whether it fits their needs or personally makes us money, we try to overcome their objections.  Sometime we go too far with the concerns we receive because we don’t like to take no for an answer because of our personal or corporate goals.  Sometimes, we need to realize when it is the time to just accept no.  We don’t need to keep badgering the customer for minutes to get them to change their minds.  When overcoming objections, we should all just take a moment and think about why we are doing what we are doing.  One, maybe two objections should be the max a sales person should try to overcome.  If you go too far to achieve your goals, you might loose out on a loyal self storage customer. 

PhoneSmart your offsite sales force call center located in Columbia, Missouri.

Joel Little, Experienced Sales Person and business blog writer.

Thanks for reading our secret shopping blog, an inside peek into the mystery shopping and secret shopping industry.

Your local self storage unit provider in 11510 N. Main, Kansas City, MO. 64155

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This morning I had to leave work at PhoneSmart to go and take my kids to school.  Well when I was en route to the schools there was a truck that had gotten stuck and was there, from what I heard, since around 7:30 this morning.  I was stuck in this traffic for 45 minutes!  Talk about a wait for a trip that usually takes only 10 to 15 minutes. Then you factor in the idiots ( and thats being nice)  that I had to put up with along the way.  Granted we here in central Missouri don't normally get that much snow, but come on!  I had a guy almost hit me trying to switch lanes.  I just cannot believe how stupid some people can be when snow hits the ground.  Also our roads are still snow covered.  The snow fell overnight Thursday into Friday and we still have so much packed ice and snow it makes for a bumpy ride.  The Public Works department here in our town said they were “prepared” ha ha ha.  Prepared maybe, but not for what we got!  I wonder if I can sue the city for damage to my vehicle?  Probly not but I do wonder what damage may be done to any vehicle driving through the roads that are like a pothole haven.  With a dip here and a dip there it has to take its toll on my poor car.  Oh well I'm sure we have not seen the last of the snow if this is any indication of what Old Man Winter is going to be bringing.

Written by: Wendy Lane, PhoneSmart Call Center Representative.Your offsite sales force; a Call Center in Columbia Missouri.

Thanks for reading the secret shopping blog. Where we tell what really goes on behind the scenes of the self storage and quality assurance industries.

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

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1. What hours are the call center open?
The call center is currently accepting calls Monday – Friday 6:30 am to 11:00    pm, Saturday 7am to 9 pm and Sunday 7:30 am to 8 pm

2. How long has PhoneSmart been in business?
 We are celebrating 6 wonderful years in business.

3. Are you an answering service?
No, we are not an answering service. While we do answer incoming phone calls for our clients, we do more than take messages. We are an off site sales force that turns your missed calls into profit. Our dedicated phone representatives are trained to “sell” self storage units.

4. What is Secret Shopping?
We provide a program to help monitor your employees. Monitoring can be for incentive based, compliance, or other types that you require a recorded phone shop by one of our trained shoppers. The call is then evaluated by our seasoned panel of evaluators and sent to you. This is a great tool for managers to use in the office to help staff achieve their personal best.

5. Is PhoneSmart’s Secret Shopping Department set up to do in person shops?
Currently, we do have a handful of “shoppers” that are able to do in person self storage shops. We are looking forward to expanding this service in the future.

6. What sort of training items do you offer?
We have several different training options available. What’s great about our training items are that they work together to optimize the learning experience.
• Secret Shopping (see above)
• Managers Training Packet- includes workbooks and CD’s and sets up the training in a classroom type atmosphere.
• Role Play Helpline- this interactive training allows your managers to call our trained staff and Role Play different scenarios or situations that may arise in everyday self storage business. It’s convenient and fun!
• Sales Training Seminars and Consulting- our director Tron Jordheim would love to visit your property and give you sales training or consulting on the spot. Tron is a member of the National Speakers Association.

7. What is the Role Play Helpline?
The Role Play Helpline is one of PhoneSmart’s newest training tools. This interactive training combines convenience and flexibility. Your managers can call the RPH anytime the call center is open (see question #1) and talk through concerns or objections, go through the sales script and more. Our reps can switch places and be the caller or the rep and switch back to get a different view of the sales call.

8. What are some of the other services PhoneSmart’s provides?
Besides the services listed above we also have an outbound calling program that can be tailored to fit your business. Another successful service we provide is lead generation and follow up. We are always on the lookout for services to help your business run smoother and more efficiently.
 

9. Can we customize our own Secret Shopping evaluation form?
Yes, you can. While we do have a standard form that many of our clients use, you may customize the evaluation form to fit your business. We encourage our clients to try and get the most out of the evaluation form to further help with training.

10. Our offices have caller id, how does your number show up?
We use T1 phone lines that show up blocked caller or unknown caller so your offices will not be given our direct number and tipped off that they are being secret shopped. In addition our callers are trained to be able to give a false name and phone number if prompted.

PhoneSmart, your offsite sales force call center located in snowy Columbia, Missouri.

Compiled by Natalie Thomas, TQAS executive and business blog writer.

Thanks for reading PhoneSmart’s secret shopping blog, an inside peek at the mystery shopping and secret shopping industry.

Your local self storage unit provider in 980 4th Ave. Brooklyn, NY. 11217

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This week at the PhoneSmart call center I was trained on taking incoming calls. During this time I learned about the five agreements. The five agreements are convenience of location, timeframe, security, size, and price. I think that each one of these agreements is important in each call.
Convenience is important because if the caller does not know where you are located, then how can they come to your store to look at your storage units? If the caller does know where you are located, but it is too far away then it’s really not going to be their first choice.
Timeframe is an important agreement because availability depends on when the caller needs the storage unit. If they don’t need the unit until three months down the road, then they are just calling ahead of time to avoid confusion, but you probably won’t be able to hold a unit for them. Which means that this phone call will probably only be informational. If the caller needs the unit tomorrow, then you will be a big help to them, and will probably take away some of their worries.
Security is important because people want to know that their stuff is going to be safe away from them. It is also important because then the caller knows what all goes into pricing a storage unit.
Another agreement that is important is size. The size of the storage unit is something that both you and the customer must agree on. If there is no agreement, nothing can really be accomplished. Size is also important because you don’t want to reserve a unit that cannot hold all of their stuff, or one that is way too big. Size is also important because it avoids just quoting every price for every size storage unit.
The last agreement is price. The pricing of a storage unit is important to agree on because if the price sounds like it’s too much then you will lose the caller right after the quote, however if you list off all of the amenities and tie them in with something important (example: security) the price wont seem so bad to the customer. While giving the price you also get the opportunity to offer coupons, which then lets the customer know that you are trying to make this storage experience as easy for them as you can. So now you see why ALL of the agreements are important to an incoming call. They are the foundation of good sales techniques.

PhoneSmart, your offsite sales force call center located in Columbia, Missouri.
 
Written by Nicole White call center newbie and business blog writer.

Thank you for visiting the PhoneSmart secret shopping blog, an inside peek at mystery shopping and secret shopping industry.

Your local self storage unit provider in 1601 Twilight Trail Frankfort, KY. 40601

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Most self storage owners or sales trainers teach their staff what to do during a rental inquiry. But what about the calls that may not fit the typical mold of a self storage renter? Today I was curious to see what would happen if I secret shopped a self storage facility and asked for the address only. So I set out on my own little experiment. 
One facility I called went like this:

The manager answered the phone (in a less than happy tone). She asked how she could help me and I asked what the store’s address was. She quickly spouted the street address. I asked her to repeat it and spell the street name.          
I thanked her and without another word, she hung up the phone. 

It could be that a caller with such a request simply wants to mail in a payment, but it could also be that a prospective renter wanted to know where the store was located so they could pay a visit. If it were the latter, then talking about the self storage unit on the phone would be a great way to gain some commitment and ensure the caller does come in for a site visit.
How would you want your staff to handle such a call? In our self storage call center, we’ve trained our reps to always ask, “Can I help you with storage?” or “Were you looking for a storage unit also?” This way no prospect is left hanging out there and going down their list to another storage facility.

Written by: Sarah Little, Total Quality Assurance Executive and business blog writer.

Thanks for visiting PhoneSmart, your offsite sales force call center in Columbia, Missouri.  This secret shopping blog explores the ins and outs of the mystery shopping and secret shopping industry.

Your local self storage unit provider in 3100 N Mannheim Franklin Park, IL. 60131

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Your greeting is the most important thing to making a good impression. When I was in high school, my English teacher stressed the importance of providing a good greeting. The greeting should set the tone for the paper. It should also grab and keep the reader’s attention. In the greeting, you can usually judge whether or not it is going to be a good story. My teachers in speech class agree with that statement.

The part of the greeting I want to focus on in this secret shopping blog is thanking the customer. During the call I actually thank the customer twice. First in the greeting and then I state it once in the closing. I believe thanking the customer in the greeting lets the customer know right away that you appreciate their business. In the self storage industry, you only get one shot at leaving a first impression, especially on the phone. All of the customer service industries have recognized the importance of thanking customers at the start of their greetings. The fast food industry is a good example of this technique. So remember every time you answer for you store, make sure you thank the customer for calling. You will be surprised at how a small thank you would go a long way. It is a sales technique that could lead to better scores on your secret shopping evaluation, and more customers in the long run. 

Written by Ronald Smith, PhoneSmart call center reservations specialist and business blog writer.

Thank you for reading our secret shopping blog.  PhoneSmart, your offsite sales force, call center in Columbia, Missouri.

Your local self storage unit provider in 15601 FM 1325 Austin, TX. 78728

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As a mystery shopping evaluator, I often evaluate managers and suggest that they get agreement and build commitment regarding the convenience of their location. Some managers may ask themselves why that matters so let me give you a short scenario that I recently experienced:

It’s 10pm and you are sitting on the couch watching TV with your special someone and all of a sudden it hits you. You have a craving for something sweet and satisfying.  Then a light bulb lights up, ice cream.  YUMMMMM!!  You make a mad dash for the freezer and open it up to see the disappointment that is in front of you.  No ice cream to be found.  What to do?  You realize that just right down the street is a convenience store that has some ice cream to partake of.  You realize that in only five minutes time you could have your craving satisfied with help from the local convenience store. 

I think we take for granted asking the customer if the storage location convenient for them.  Is it on the way back from their job?  Is it a block down from their house or is it way out the way from their normal routine.  Sometimes people forget that they need something out of their storage space and know that they can go get it and in less than 10 minutes be back on course for the rest of their day.  Who wants to put their belongings in a place that is not inconvenient for them?  We need to ask the question and make the customer realize that it is good to have a place that is convenient for them to store. This is just another great sales technique that will add value and commitment to your facility.

Written by: Joel Little, experienced salesman who occasionally needs a midnight bowl of Central Dairy’s Cookies and Cream.

Thanks for reading our secret shopping blog; the inside scoop on how to mystery shop and mystery shopping trends.

Brought to you by: PhoneSmart. Your offsite sales force. Call Center in Columbia Missouri.

Your local self storage unit provider in 2021 Griffin Rd. Dania Beach FL. 33312

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How much money a company is willing to spend keeping up with the latest technology has always depended upon either the availability of funds or the actual need to upgrade.  But in today's world, as technology continues to advance at a faster and faster rate, setting aside funds for upgrading your self storage property may be the best solution.
All companies expect to pay a certain percentage toward upkeep, maintenance, and security for their high-tech electronic equipment.  I often wonder how many companies realize that continual upgrading not only makes sense, but also is now a necessity.  As advances become more the “norm” it has actually become less expensive to replace a computer, than it does to maintain one.
Keeping up with the Jones' is more like keeping up with the Jetsons nowadays. The computer, e-mail and web sites are as important to self storage facilities as video surveillance and coded entry systems. I wonder why computer manufacturers have not offered trade-in allowances to businesses wishing to upgrade on an annual basis.  It would guarantee repeat business and a sales increase if they simply offered some sort of incentive.
Until then, we should all think about starting an electronic “upgrade” fund and contribute on a monthly basis.

Written by Laurie Cox PhoneSmart call center outbound projects manager and business blog writer.
Thank you for visiting the PhoneSmart property management blog. A blog about property management trends in the property management industry.

Your local self storage unit provider in 3500 I-70 Dr. S.E. Columbia, MO. 65201

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Building and maintaining a secret shopping program that runs smoothly requires purposeful planning and upkeep. Many times we start a program and expect it to happen on accident; however, an effective secret shopping program calls for strategy. Not because it’s hard or time consuming but because it must be introduced to the group as positive reinforcement and not negative.

The best place to start is to make sure your managers know what is expected of them. Clearly express that the starting-out point may not be what you desire but that your goal is to see improvement. Then, follow up each mystery shop by asking the managers what they could work on next time. Make sure they know how to improve in each area; it may just be a matter of them not knowing where to go with it. Once you and the mangers agree on the next goal, follow up and reward them when they reach it.

The goal is to purposely use the tool as a self-reflective evaluation in order to improve sales and customer service. Asking the manager what they think they could do differently gets them focused on the usefulness of a mystery shop. This is a great way to avoid getting stuck in a defensive mode or automatically disregarding a secret shopping evaluation.

As scores improve, your managers will be able to take pride in the goals they’ve met. Make sure the managers display awards so that coworkers and customers can see them. Company loyalty or pride is an excellent and valuable characteristic of an employee and makes the working environment fun.

Unsatisfactory performances may still arise; though, if you’ve discussed how you wanted to see the group or individuals improve and how they could have made those improvements then poor scores have less room to be shrugged off and the consequence becomes more significant.

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
American writer and activist

Written by: Sarah Little, TQA Executive.

Thanks for reading the PhoneSmart call center blog; the inside view of the secret shopping and self storage industry.

Your local self storage unit provider in 2310 Paris Road, Columbia MO 65202

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