» Quality Assurance Services

Do you use the word “sorry” or “I’m sorry,” too much, not enough or just enough. You might not even realize that you use or that you abuse it. We recently hired a new waitress for my parent’s restaurant and I worked with her last night. She definitely falls into the abuser category, with her apologizes flying around loosely. I suppose she felt like she didn’t know what else to say, so instead of saying nothing at all, she chose to say she was sorry. There were no problems that I could see that would really warrant an apology but that is how she communicated. We have all had that occasional “bumping” into someone or vice versa. And, we have all had someone bump into us and keep on going without a word. These people might take note that it won’t hurt you to say you’re sorry. Sometimes after saying you are sorry, a small smile might escape your lips. Even better, now we are getting somewhere.

One of the benefits of our self storage call center is that we record our calls. Incoming and outgoing calls can be recorded to listen to at a later time. Part of our training involves sales reps listening to their self storage calls and other reps calls to gain insight on different situations. When was the last time you listened to one of your sales calls? You might be surprised to find patterns in your speech and delivery. I urge you to listen to yourself and try and make the necessary adjustments. It can only make you better at what you do.

By Natalie Thomas, business blog writer and mystery shopping professional.

Thanks for reading PhoneSmart’s secret shopping blog, where we explore mystery shopping trends and the secret shopping business.

Your local self storage unit provider in 819 N. Eola Rd. Aurora, IL. 60504

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It doesn’t matter how much you get paid to do your job, you can still be nice to others. I picked up some lunch today from a popular fast food restaurant. There was a young man behind the counter who took my order. I had a few questions about an item and he answered them and the one answer he didn’t know he offered to go back and ask someone else. He read my order back to me, accepted my payment, thanked me and then told me to have a nice afternoon. Great customer interaction, a genuine smile and helpful to top it off. On the flip side of this, I have been to some fancy restaurants also in my lifetime that have also had nice service staff. The point is people get paid differing amounts of money to do all kinds of customer service jobs.
The same theory goes for how busy you are. Sometimes when business is a little slow, we feel we can offer better customer service, but when you are busy or the phone is ringing when you are helping a customer you don’t offer as good of customer service. You should always try to offer the same level of service to your customers. If you have some spare time then throw in the “little extras” to top off your service. When you find yourself with no extra time, make sure you cover all the bases and listen to the customers needs. Don’t think the customer won’t notice that your office is busy, the customer has a busy life too and hopefully they will be patient.

By Natalie Thomas, business blog writer and mystery shopping professional.

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

Need Storage in Brooklyn, NY? Great location at 50 Wallabout Street, Call Abe for prices and information about storage. 718-522-9055
 

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Several months ago when we had severe hail in Missouri, my new car was damaged fairly bad. Not as bad as others, however bad enough that it looked a mess. I took it in this week to get fixed and it took 3 and a half days to fix it. I figured that they’d get every dent out, considering they were getting a nice lump sum of money for the work, especially. It’s also a well recognized company that I won’t mention.

However, I went to pick it up today and as soon as I pulled up, I noticed 2 of the largest dents immediately in the front of the car. At a closer inspection, there were about 3 other small dents that weren’t pulled out all the way. For a well known company, I was really surprised that they didn’t fix everything. In the lobby of the store, they showcased a binder with previous cars that they worked on with major damage and then a picture of the finished product. Amazing results, so we weren’t worried about the work that would be done on our car.

So, how could they leave damage to our car that was so noticeable? Remembering how they explained to us how they get the dents out… “We massage the dent from the inside and slowly PUSH the dent OUT”. Listen to this… when we brought the remaining dents to their attention, they stated… “well, I was afraid that if I tried to get them out, that it would look worse than it did, as it might have been wobbly looking and uneven. They agreed to go ahead and “try to fix them and see how they turn out, which should only take about 15 minutes.” While they were back there, we could hear them using a dent PULLER. They didn’t massage anything. When finished it looked 85% better, as we knew it would.

So, overall, they lied… they didn’t finish the job… and they didn’t even say they were sorry. (While waiting in the parking lot while they fixed our car, we saw 3 other customers bring their cars back in and complain about the damage to their car that was left on it, after it was supposedly fixed. One of them was an elderly man whom had 15 dents left in his car… we actually saw it… and it was all on the passengers side of the car, as if he wasn’t going to notice…. unbelievable).

If you agree to do the job and say you can finish the job, put 100% into it. Don’t, half-way do the work and get lazy. And if something doesn’t turn out quite right, an apology is well called for and should be given. I’ll never bring my car back there for any other type of work, because they’ve lost my trust.

Taking calls for our self storage clients, we must always follow the rules so that we give top quality service without misunderstandings. One way we measure quality assurance is our top notch secret shopping business. Mystery shopping provides us with the customer’s perspective and gives us invaluable feedback.  We must stick to the established sales techniques so that our service results in sales increase and goodwill.

Written by Robin Turner, PhoneSmart call center manager.

Thank you for visiting the PhoneSmart call center blog.  We offer an insider view of the self storage and secret shopping industry.

Your local self storage unit provider in 2445 Crain Hwy. Waldorf, MD. 20601

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Whew!  The Labor Day weekend is behind us.  We have survived the busiest moving and self-storage weekend of the whole year and are looking forward to what the fall and winter months will bring.

I am taking a vacation next week so the push is on to get enough high quality call center blogs in the pipeline to assure that our call center blogs are top notch.  We ask for contributions from our call center staff and even the newbie’s here have valuable input about our training, secret shopping, property management and Total Quality Assurance.

Our call center reps are eager to share their insights and knowledge about sales techniques and the effort we all expend to help our client stores generate sales increases.
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We not only assist your callers in reserving storage units and answer questions about gate hours, office hours and store amenities; we also are invited to help with secret shopping, outbound follow up calls, role playing, and other productive projects.

Yes, the busy season and Labor Day business for moving and storage is passing but we will be actively working to help your store turn your missed call into profits.  Put us on your team.  We are eager to help.

Written by Kay Johnson, PhoneSmart call center blog editor and secret shopping business writer.

Thank you for visiting the PhoneSmart business blog, where we offer information on the mystery shopping industry and secret shopping trends.

Need Storage in San Antonio, TX? We are located at 9580 Potranco Rd call 210-680-1081 or stop by for a site visit. You’ll like what you see.

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In addition to my duties in the call center, I help out in the secret shopping department as well.  I now do this as a second nature.  It is not as hard as I thought that it would be.  At first I had many questions about mystery shopping.  First I needed to know how to secret shop.  The answer to this is to forget everything that I knew about self storage.  It is not an easy task as there are key phrases and “insider” jargon that would tip the manager off to the fact that I am not as unaware about self storage as a first time renter.   I have to be careful.

It is very hard to secret shop someone you talk to on a constant basis.  Not only do I have to portray that I am not knowledgeable about storage but I may need to disguise my voice.  To make the call seem more realistic, I may say something in the background to my “imaginary husband” or my “invisible child” so that the person on the phone may think that I am a real customer.

As I continue to make calls, I find that the secret shopping business is not only used as a “report” to the regional manger of the local employees but it can be used as a learning tool as well.  With the calls being recorded with a printed point system sheet attached, it helps managers and other employees see what could be done or how to improve their sales techniques.  Instead of viewing mystery shopping as a “report” see it as a guideline leading to sales increases.   The call center uses this technique as a part of our one on one training.  In my opinion everyone should become a part of the secret shop industry and let us help; it can lead to sales increases for your store.

By Angela Perry, PhoneSmart trainer and reservations expert.

Thank you for visiting the PhoneSmart call center blog and insider diary of the self storage and secret shop industries.

Self Storage in Missouri
4000 S. Providence Rd. 
Columbia, MO 65203 
Manager: Jason Laswell 
Ph: (573) 442-0811 
Fax:(573) 442-4741

Call Jason for a $50 coupon towards your storage unit!

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Listening is a big part of this job. You have to be able to listen to the customer in order to determine their needs. There was a time that I went to a website to get an order for a very special day. I wanted a specific order so that I could surprise the recipient at the time. I was ordering a bear for Valentine’s Day. I ordered a talking bear with roses. I called the toll free number because I wanted to give them specific instructions because I wanted a mixture of roses for my girlfriend.

The bear was a big teddy bear that had my voice recording on it. Every time you squeeze the bear, my voice plays with a prerecorded message. Once I got done recording the message for the bear, I was transferred to a live rep so that I could make my flower order. I wanted a dozen roses and a dozen carnations. My girlfriend loved roses and carnations so I thought I’d get both of them for her. On that day, the mail arrived and her present came. She was happy with the gifts but she got two dozen roses instead of the roses I requested. Even though she was satisfied with the order, I wasn’t happy because I asked for a specific order. Those conversations were recorded and they should have gotten it right. They read my order back to me at the time I placed it.

In the self storage business you have to listen to the caller to make sure you are addressing their needs properly. Listening is important to ensure that you are getting accurate information for the customer. No one likes it when they found out that their order is wrong because the rep didn’t pay attention to what the customer was saying. Paying attention to this detail will result in a sales increase.

By Ronald Smith, PhoneSmart call center reservations specialist and self storage insider.

Thanks for reading the PhoneSmart call center blog.  We offer a comprehensive diary of the self storage and secret shopping businesses.

A note from Sarah: Secret shopping is one way to ensure your company delivers accurate and precise service. Implementing a thorough mystery shopping program will benchmark your skills and allow you to measure your growth. Each month’s mystery shop will create stepping stones for your employees to broaden and perfect their selling and customer service skills.

Self Storage in Florida
640 S.W. 2nd Ave 
Miami, FL 33130 
Manager: Angie Jones 
Ph: (305) 854-7575 
Fax:(305) 854-1415 

Call Angie to reserve your unit today and receive a $50 coupon!

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I did not realize that the mystery shopping industry is so large until I began receiving advertisement for employment.  I received advertisement through the Internet and through snail mail.  I did not think about this line of work until I opened the umpteenth envelope that came through my mailbox.  As I read the information pamphlet about mystery shopping, I found out that I get paid to do what most women love to do and that is to shop!

At first I was shocked and thought that this could not be true but I decided to continue reading.  The most popular mystery shopping trend is to be casual and purchase things.  It is a suggestion that if shopping for clothing that you try items on and be indecisive so that the salesperson will have an opportunity to overcome any rejections of style or type of clothing.  The more that I thought about this I thought, “hey I could do this.” 

This does not only apply to the clothing market.  You can go to a local supply store and look for office supplies to monitor what they do to assist you.  Both of these techniques can be helpful in the self storage industry as well.  Instead of calling the store and conducting a secret shop over the phone you can also go in person to inquire about self storage to measure helpful the managers are assisting you in person.  Although I am intrigued about the whole mystery shopping industry, I do not feel that I am going to become a mystery shopping professional.  Our secret shopping and evaluations program at the PhoneSmart call center does assist our customers in determining what sales techniques they can teach their employees to increase sales.

Written by Angela Perry, trainer in the PhoneSmart call center.

Thank you for visiting the Phone Smart call center blog.  We offer an insider view of the self storage and mystery shopping industries.

Self Storage in Illinois
5979 Butterfield Rd 
Hillside, IL 60162 
Manager: James Ellis 
Ph: (708) 449-0384 
Fax:(708) 449-7536 

Call James for your $50 coupon!

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When we hear the phone ring we generally have an idea of how the call is going to go.  We follow the five agreements throughout the call until the call is over.  So when we get a call that does not go according to plan we may assume that we are being, “secret shopped”.  Usually in the storage industry we have competitors calling to get pricing as well as the stores themselves secret shopping to make sure we are doing our job!!  So the first sign that I know I am being secret shopped is I ask if they know what they are going to be storing.  Most of the time the response I get is,  “I don’t know,” so when I get this response I try and get a little bit of information out of them so I can determine what size they are going to need.  Sometimes this is hard as they may be a little inexperienced in how to secret shop self storage so they may have no idea they really need to have some idea of size or what they will be storing!
The second way I can usually tell I am being shopped is they immediately ask for all our sizes and prices or they ask for 3 specific units.  The third and final way I can usually tell I am being shopped is that the person is asking for a specific size and they want the price with nothing extra (as in telling them about our location, amenities, etc.) and they are pretty rude and then they cut you off and don’t even give any of their information to you when you ask.  I have even been hung up on.  Of course all the experience with being shopped is also helpful in that when I go to shop someone myself, I can use many different tactics and sales techniques to get the information I need.

By Wendy Lane PhoneSmart call center reservations specialist, and business blog writer.

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

Brand New Storage Facility in Hollis, NY — 184-02 Jamaica Ave, Call Hector for a site tour, 718-454-0520, we even have alarms on each individual unit.

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Last Monday, on my way to work, I could hardly drive straight. I was extremely dizzy so I went to the ER (it was a holiday and the doctors weren’t open). This was the 4th day of dizziness so I began to have some concern about what was going on. It turned out that I was dehydrated and had a serious inner ear infection. Of course the doctors gave me antibiotics to fight the infection. The side effect of the drug was nauseousness, which I already have enough of from being in my first trimester of pregnancy. To counteract the nauseousness, they prescribed a drug which can cause dizziness. (Um, that’s why I went to the ER! Because I was dizzy!) So, they added a third drug to the mix. And they topped it off by recommending that I also take some Pepcid to avoid getting an ulcer from all that medicine. 

I carried out half the doctor’s prescription pad by the time I left. It seemed insane that my medicine had to have medicine, which needed more medicine, which all had to be preceded with medicine to avoid the dangers of the entire concoction! I am not one to take medicine when prescribed to me. I forget most of the time, and I just don’t like the idea of putting that stuff in my body. (It seems like they’re always discovering that drugs cause cancer or weird limbs to appear.) Especially carrying a child; they don’t know what real affect those drugs can have on a growing fetus. Although I asked the doctor repeatedly if they were safe for me, I didn’t feel completely comfortable with it.

I decided to only take the antibiotic and just deal with the rest of the symptoms. So I’ve been resting a lot this week. (It’s amazing how much sleep I needed) I’m not sure if the medical industry uses or has ever considered secret shopping, but it may be worth looking into. The purpose of my secret shopping blog is two-fold. 

1.) We can all learn a lesson from my drug-giving-happy doctor. Sometimes the answer can be simple, but we make it too hard. I felt like I went in for a splinter and came out with an entire body cast. Overdoing it (in this case the drugs) can be harmful. Don’t try to confuse your self storage customers by going into details about how you prorate their move in or how you factor the taxes, just give them a simple quote. Remember: Less in more.

And…

2.) Most importantly, I want to thank Natalie Thomas, my TQA co-worker for doing an excellent job in my absence! You really took charge and put out all the mystery shopping fires as the month wrapped up. It was easy to get back into the groove and I appreciate that!

Written by, Sarah Little, PhoneSmart Total Quality Assurance Executive and mystery shopping professional.

Thanks for reading PhoneSmart’s mystery shopping blog, where we give you a behind-the-scenes look at our world.

Self Storage in Florida
4920 NW 7th Street
Miami, FL 33126  
Ph:(305) 446-1887 
Fax:(305) 446-1818

Call today to get $50 off boxes and moving supplies!

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It’s one of those sayings my mom use to say when she wanted me to give new things a chance. Now I can see the importance of that. Without it how would our lives improve or even move forward?

Perhaps you can remember the good ol’ high school days. Mine may have been much like yours in that it seemed that each person had a small group of friends and that was it. We all seemed pretty closed minded about being friends with those outside the group- the cheerleaders, the smart kids, the band kids, the artsy kids, the rebels, and of course the popular kids. The trouble is what if you fall into more than one? Or what if others assume you belong to one and not the other?

In business one should be weary of categorizing customers or vendors. Recently a friend of mine went to a furniture store alone, dressed in shorts and a shirt. He was not approached by any of the sales people and felt snubbed. My husband and I later visited the same furniture store together, with our baby, and we were immediately greeted and haggled. The thing is my friend would have probably bought something that day whereas my husband and I were truly just looking.

It wasn’t until after both of our experiences at this store that we discussed our different experiences. The level, or lack, of service now seems almost intentional. It’s important to give consistently great service to every person no matter how they appear. This would have also been a great opportunity to mystery shop this furniture store; too bad I left my clipboard at home.

Written by a certain mystery shopping professional.

Thanks for reading PhoneSmart’s business blog, where we explore ideas in secret shopping, mystery shopping and tips on monitoring your business or employees.

Want Self Storage in Lenexa, KS? We have a location for you on 16101 West 95th street. Stop by for a visit or call Joanne the manager, 913-888-4558.

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