» Quality Assurance Services

Training at the call center helped me in more ways than one. I was only trained on the phones for only about a week and a half, but I learned so much within that week that it was unbelievable.  Training helped improve my customer service skills and it taught me some great sales techniques, and also different ways to interact with customers. Although this is a job, it has been a great benefit in my life to have this experience.
The call center’s training in customer service skills educated me in how to deal with different type of customers. Not all people are the same, so you have to deal with different people in different ways in life and at the call center. People who want self storage or apartment prices straightforward, you have to be quick and on your toes. You cannot give them just the prices, you must squeeze in as much information as possible while they have you on the line, or they will hang up in your face. This is the same as with people in your everyday life.
When you trying to sell yourself, for example at a job, you want to let the hiring manager know that you are the best candidate for this job so you must get as much information in quickly to “sell yourself” in a short period of time.
Some great sales techniques that working at the call center has taught me is what I call the “red light, green light”, a technique explained to me by a trainer. Basically, you confirm what the customer has told you with convenience, price, location, and size and they will say yes to all of that information and then try to get them to commit to the   storage unit they need and get commitment from them this way.
There is a lot to learn in the secret shopping business and the call center world, I look forward to helping turn missed calls into profits and watching my secret shopping scores increase.

By Glennetta Haymon, a PhoneSmart business blog writer and call center “newbie.” 

Thanks for reading  the PhoneSmart call center blog, where we offer a peek into the mystery shopping industry and offer insight into some secret shopping trends. 

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In our secret shopping business, it is sometimes hard to focus on the positive. If you ask any of our evaluators, they will tell you that they want the people shopped to do well. It doesn’t take any more or less time to do a good evaluation. What we do hear a lot is, “wow, that was a bad call.” It’s a shame that with some basic information and questions, how well you can make all your calls good. Anyone can answer a phone, but can your employee “sell” a storage unit, or rent an apartment?
Some of the things we do to focus on the positive are; next to the “growth area” section of the evaluation form we have a “what worked well,” then we give certificates to those who score a certain percentage on their evaluation. We want these evaluations to be a learning experience, not a scolding. Hopefully, after receiving the completed evaluations, the managers review the evaluation with the employee. Then they can work on improving a few areas at a time.
We want to point out what an employee does correctly as well as correct a problem area. By using some more positives, your employees will feel less like they are being reprimanded for a low score. Think positive.

Written by Natalie Thomas, ultimate secret shopper and business blog writer.

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

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Our secret shopping and mystery shopping department work hard at evaluating quality control for employees of the self storage and other clients we serve. Our call center is located in Columbia, Missouri, the heart of the mid-west.  Sometimes this “internal” shopping can reveal areas in our sales techniques that could stand improvement.  Taking call after call, day after day we sometimes can become stale in our self storage presentation. 

Knowing how to secret shop helps us to understand the criteria upon which we are being scored.  The evaluation form that is used for our secret shopping clients is also applied to quality control calls for our call center.  There will always be “those” calls.  The caller is very abrupt and determined not to let you apply the tools you have to work for sales increase.  These things can bring your score on the shop down.  It is very gratifying to be presented with a certificate for a 90 or 90 plus call.  We take the call reports of slightly lower scores and vow not let ourselves be shrugged off next time.

Internal shops are a real learning experience and very helpful to me in keeping me on track and working at my best.  You have to keep on your toes; after all, you never know which call you will be scored on. By monitoring our own employees, we are able to provide the best customer service with a smile.

Thanks for reading the PhoneSmart mystery shopping blog.  Where we offer an inside view of the secret shopping business.

By Kay Johnson, PhoneSmart reservations specialist and blog editor.

Looking for storage in West New York, NJ? We have a great location at 6700 River Road. Call or stop by and ask for Rowland Browne the manager. 201-869-2330

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Talkative customers… how do we handle them? You’ve got a talkative customer who talks about everything and anything that they’re going through except self storage. The typical talkative customer goes on and on with something like: I’ve got to take my son to baseball practice, and my daughter to ballet class. I’ve still got to get everything packed; I’m nowhere near getting everything done, not to mention that I still have to meet with the divorce lawyer today at 3pm. Etc.

Granted, yes they are going through some things. That is why they are attempting to make use of the self storage business. And you certainly don’t want to ignore the fact that they’re having a bad time, however you haven’t time to listen to everything they want to vent about. You need a strong and positive sales technique to overcome this situation in a delicate and caring way. You have customers standing in line and phone calls that you still need to return and you don’t want to offend your caller by seeming insincere.

You can politely interrupt them with… “Oh my goodness, you’re certainly going through a heck of a time aren’t you? I’ll tell you what, let me go ahead and get this unit taken care of for you so you have one less thing to worry about.” All of a sudden you hear a sigh of relief as if you’ve taken at least one load off of their back. You can hear the pressure release off of them. Maybe you’ll even get a “thank you so much!!!” By the end of the call, you’re their hero.  They never knew it would be so easy.  Now, they don’t want to call anywhere else because you have reminded them that they do need to get so much more taken care of. They close the phone book, looking forward to meeting you.

Written by: Robin Turner, PhoneSmart call center manager

Comments from Sarah: PhoneSmart has learned and created some realistic sales techniques in our years of call center service. You can take advantage of our knowledge in the sales and customer service industry by reading this business blog, or, if you wish to take a more active role, allow us to be your sales force. The best way to know where to start is to benchmark where you’re starting from. PhoneSmart secret shopping business is just one aspect of our Total Quality Assurance Services. Our mystery shopping professionals can help raise the bar and watch you achieve your goals.

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My name is Sarah Little; I’d like to take a moment to introduce myself. I am a wife and mother of one beautifl son, and one more child soon to enter the world. I have been working for PhoneSmart Quality Assurance for the past 3 years.

The newest category of the TQAS site is Quality Assurance. I'll frequently be submitting blogs to this site. Prior to this Quality Assurance category I submitted blogs at www.secretshoppingblog.com , which was a branch withing our PhoneSmart business. The goal of our previous blog and our newest category is to provide our clients and prospects with valuable insight into the Quality Assurance industry.

Come back tomorrow for more insight.

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