Diamonds and Coal

Welcome to the self storage blog, PhoneSmart’s diary of its dealings in the self storage industry.

Some Calls are Diamonds and Some Calls . . .

I was working my way though a hot day in June talking with folks all around the country about the benefits of storing with our clients. The calls were coming thick and fast with just enough time in between to get a sip of iced tea and take a deep breath. Callers were the usual run of frazzled, stressed out, hard working people who find themselves in desperate need of some place to put things they don’t want to throw away. It seemed to be the typical mix of reservations, leads, truck rental requests and current tenants with questions.

You never know what sort of mood they are going to be in. You answer the phone with your best smile on and are polite enough to make your Mother proud. You keep a professional tone and don’t get rattled and usually even the most frazzled, most stressed callers will calm down because they respond to your kindness and know you are trying to help them.

AND THEN IT HAPPENS! A call comes in from someone who is just determined to be as unpleasant as possible from word one. You answer the questions, bite your tongue over their smart remarks and try not to let your mounting annoyance show. You get through the call, proud that you have maintained your professional demeanor in the face of an angry, bitter person. After all, it could be worse… you could be married to him! (Tee Hee) You walk away from your station take a few deep breaths, get a drink of water, fantasize about kicking a locker and go back to the phones. You again answer calls with your best smile on and make your mom proud.

AND THEN IT HAPPENS! A tenant calls and says that the gate is stuck and he can’t get out. He has tried his gate code which got him into the lot a few minutes ago to no avail. You read your info on the facility information and find that you have an emergency code that you can give. You get his name, telephone number and unit number and following the instructions on the screen give him the code and leave a message for the manager. When you get back with the tenant he tells you that the code did not work. You hear a small child crying in the car. You look for all of your options and then tell him to try to honk his horn and rouse the manager or call his police non emergency number.

You are still leaving messages for the manager and writing a trouble ticket about the situation when the manager calls back. A co-worker takes his call and tells me that the tenant is out and that he had been speaking with a very nice young lady.

Well. the day wasn’t so bad after all. Some calls are diamonds and they more than make up for the others.

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

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