» Customer Service

Until I needed storage for the first time, I didn’t ever realize that it was a service available. My needs were simple. I was moving out of a duplex in one city and into a someone else’s home and didn’t have room for my things. So I was forced into storing my things until I could get my own place. It was about 4 months that I had my belongings in storage – basically over a summer. I was just out of college with very little extra money so I went to the place in town with the cheapest price.

No one ever warned me (especially not the facility) of the many different things I should and shouldn’t do when putting things into a storage unit. Everything in my small duplex had to be put away. So without thinking, I packed the living room, the bedroom, the bathroom, and the kitchen. Yes. The kitchen. I packed pots, pans, dishes, silverware, and the pantry.

When I returned four months later to get my belongings out of storage, I was very unhappy with the results. Everything was covered with mouse droppings! They had chewed through all five boxes that I had packed food in. They ate all my cereal, packs of uncooked noodles, hamburger helper. They chewed a hole through my bag of flour but luckily they left most of it in the bag. The problem was that meal worms were happily eating what the mice had left behind.

Okay. So maybe that was mostly my fault for not having enough common sense, but the property owners never told me not to put food in the unit. At least they told me I couldn’t store the propane tank from my grill, but the grill ended up falling off the truck rendering it useless. Needless to say, I sold my tank.

This was a little over 5 years ago and in that much time, the way people do storage has improved. We advertise monthly pest control, super clean facilities, climate controlled units (I won’t even go there. All I’ll say is antique coffee table.), and security. If only I had known then what I know now.

Written by: Julio Montes

Thanks for reading our property management blog and inside view of the self storage industry.

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

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Here at TQAS we run a program called Prize Patrol. This is an incentive based training plan that incorporates everyday business sales techniques, customer service and fun. Since the beginning of the Prize Patrol we have tried to instill the action of the store asking the caller if they need storage, no matter what the caller may be calling for.

We will call and ask about trucks or boxes with the goal being that the manager should ask the caller if they need storage also. Over and over we have practiced, yet there are still some stores that don’t ask. These stores stand to potentially lose a future self storage customer. If the caller says yes they do need storage, they should take the opportunity to sell their property to the caller. We are only one or two calls a month, think of the real calls that these stores may be missing. We sometimes feel that, as teachers, we aren’t providing the proper learning techniques to our students. But sometimes the students are not implementing the information that we have provided them. So please, use the information we are sending out. It is helpful and can enhance your sales.

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

Thanks for reading our secret shopping blog and inside view of the self storage industry.

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

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Today I had the unique honor of being the MOD. In Best Buy world, that is the manager on duty. This person is in charge of taking all the manager calls (angry customers, calls from corporate, etc). and making sure that the check-in lanes are processing the sales fast and accurately. 

The first call I took today was from a woman that had issues with her Ipod. She dropped it in some water and that ruined the Ipod. Well, I can’t replace her product due to water damage but she bought our service plan. So, she wanted to get her service plan prorated back to her.

She went to my customer service girls and they told the customer that we were unable to process this request in our store and referred her to our 800 number. So, the caller called the 800 number and they told him that she needs to go into a store. Obviously the customer was pretty upset having to go back and forth with no one giving her a resolution. 

I was able to find that we could process her request in the store. I immediately called the customer back and told them that we could get her all taken care of. At the end of the day, she was happy. I was dealing with this problem for over an hour and I was glad to have come to a resolution made the customer happy.

When you are in an environment in which you can make the customer happy and go the extra mile for them, do so. The customer will appreciate it and realize that your customer service is second to none.

Written by: Joel Little

Thanks for reading our property management blog and inside view of the customer service industry.

PhoneSmart is your offsite sales force and call center Columbia, Missouri.

Self storage is around the corner at 3006 Druid Park Drive, Baltimore, MD 21215

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I love training new people. It gives the opportunity to have a clean slate so you can properly give new information without the old way of doing things getting in the way.

Last week, I inherited three newbees to learn the ways of the company. I am excited because I get to start fresh with three new people and get them to the point that I need them to be.  I get to show them the vision of the company, show them the exact way to do a certain process, and how to effectively help customers.  I won’t encounter push-back saying that is not the way we used to do it.  I get to show them why our store was put in a small town and what we look to accomplish. 

The ironic part of training newbees is that sometimes they do a better job than the employees that have been here since the store opened.  They are the ones out there providing great customer service to our customers and are gung ho about serving their every need. It is good for me sometimes to have these new associates on my floor because I can see the desire in their eyes to impress me and make that customer experience better than that customer has had in my town.

It is crucial to have each and every new employee understand the ins and outs of your business.  If they know what they are supposed to do each and every day, they are passionate about the vision of what you expect, and the importance of customer service, your business will succeed. 

Written by: Joel Little

Thanks for reading our property management blog. We know sales and the self storage property management industry.

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

Enjoy the extra space by renting storage at 3100 N Mannheim, Franklin Park, IL 60131

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