Training For Effective Property Management

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For the last 2 months, our call center has been flooding over with employees as we prepare for the summer rush.  Every 2 weeks it seems our trainers have managed to not only take calls in the call center but also split the responsibility of training new groups of new hires. It’s not an easy task and isn’t for everyone.  Training in our call center takes approximately 2 weeks.  We put a lot of effort and time into the training process to make sure our reps are ready to handle any type of self storage customer. 

As for me, when I started working here 6 years ago, it wasn’t as difficult considering we had a handful of self storage clients and a good number of stores.  Trends are ever-changing and as we improve, implement and upgrade, it gets more and more difficult for a newcomer.  I stress to all of the new employees in training that it is the most difficult call center position that they will probably ever work for.

Sometimes the question comes up “what kind of turn-over rate do you have?” 
Approximately 50% of the new hires that start with us, don’t make it past the first 2 weeks.  We typically look for employees who aren’t new to the work force.  As a matter of fact, many have call center or extensive sales experience. The ones who make it past their 30 day probationary period stay with us for a very long time. I guess employees figure that since they finally made it past the probationary period, it would be a waste to quit. Ha ha, but seriously, most find it very rewarding. 

During the first 3 days of training our trainers make a point to let the new hires know, multiple times, that if at any point they don’t feel that this is the job for them, that they are more than welcome to depart without any hard feelings, as the information is a lot to take in and the job isn’t for everyone.  For some reason, we can’t seem to scare anyone away– ha, ha. 

And after training, they don’t seem to go anywhere either…. I guess they like working here.

Written by: Robin Turner, Call Center Manager

Thanks for reading our business blog. We know the self storage and property management industry inside and out.

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

9420 De Soto Ave, Chatsworth, CA 91311 has a great storage location.

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Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.