» Secure Self Storage

By Ronald Smith, PhoneSmart call center reservations specialist.

Thank you for visiting the PhoneSmart call center blog, and insider diary of the self storage industry.

No one likes to deal with customers who have in issue they would like to address. In the self storage business, we get a lot of calls that require putting yourself in the caller’s shoes.

I have been on the other side of the fence and had a complaint. I needed a ride to work for the next month or so. I called around and found a great deal on rates from my house to work. I call in my schedule a week in advance and I get priority pick up. One day, I waited for at least 30 minutes for my cab to show up but it never did. I called the dispatcher to see what the problem was. Needless to say, I was pretty irate because I would have to take a pay cut. He thanked me for my complaint, which made me feel good. You would be surprised how far a thank you can go. He also apologized for the inconvenience and let me know why my cab was late. He also offered a solution and corrected my problem by giving my trip there and back for free.

I am empathetic now with customers who call in with a complaint in self storage. Working in a call center, it is sometimes difficult to offer a workable solution. I try to stay away from negative words such as” I can’t do that” or “there’s nothing I can do.” I try to offer solutions such as getting them to the manager’s voicemail or calling to the store directly for them. Another sales technique for angry customers is to put you in their shoes, and confirm that action will be taken.

I wrote this self storage blog to say that most customers just want to be re-assured that action would be taken to address the problem.