5
Nov

Attitude

Posted by admin

You don’t want a single renter to move out because you had a lousy attitude. You can’t let yourself get caught having a bad day when nothing is working right in the office. Your public face can’t show that. You have to make sure your customers feel respected and cared about even if they had what you thought was a silly problem.
 
You can’t let on that you thought it was a silly problem. If that’s what they picked up from how you because of how you handled them, they will think to themselves, “I’ll fix you,” and they move out.
 
If your systems stink, you will lose customers needlessly. Is your gate broken more than it is working? Do you have trouble with your access system, so every time they come in to use their access codes, their code doesn’t work? Then the customer thinks, “Ugh! Why am I paying for this? I could just leave this stuff in a box in my garage, and it’ll be fine.” Or maybe you’ve now over-locked them three months in a row after they actually have paid their bill. One of the top complaints we get from current customers in our call center, is people calling up to tell us, “I gave you a check three days ago. Take the damn lock off my unit!”. So, if your systems stink, fix them because it’s the easiest way to keep customers.
 
There are all kinds of ways you can make it easy for people to stay. Some of the most popular ones you’re probably doing already – doing electronic funds withdrawals from people’s checking account, doing automatic charges on credit cards. Those are easy ways to make it less of a pain for people to pay.
 
Be sensitive to what’s a pain and what’s a pleasure at your facility, because there’s always some kind of balance there between your access, how the doors roll, which way the sun is shining in people’s faces, the smell of the place, where dust tends to settle and all kinds of little things that can make a difference. There are all kinds of things that could create a bit of a pain for your customers. Be aware of that, and either find some way to compensate for each pain or eliminate them.
 
 
It is hard to tell from customer reactions what is causing them pain at your store, because your typical customers do not want to confront you. Yes, you have some who come in to the office and say, “Look, this is the second time this has happened. If it happens a third time, I’m moving out. So whatever your problem is, fix it!” Have you had customers like that? Every now and again, perhaps. You’ve got to love those people because you know if you fix the problem, they’ll stay forever because they confronted you, you did what you were supposed to do, and now they’re happy. If only all of your customers who were annoyed would do that, your average length of stay would probably double. But that’s not what most people do, is it? Have you ever had lousy service at a restaurant and said nothing about it, tipped 15 percent anyway and just never came back? We have all done that. That’s exactly what our customers do too.
 
 
Notes:
The author, Tron Jordheim, is better known for his work in the business world and the public speaking arena. Tron Jordheim is the director of PhoneSmart, a sales support company that offers sales training and off-site sales services to its clients. Many of PhoneSmart’s clients are in the self storage business. PhoneSmart’s parent company is Storage Mart, a leader in the world of self storage. Storage Mart owns and operates some 60 self storage properties in North America in many major markets such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Oakland, Miami, Austin, San Antonio, Calgary, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Kansas City. Tron Jordheim is a popular public speaker who puts some new twists on pursuing sales and customer service excellence.
 
 
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