By Joel Little
The majority of people like to be ignored. Wait, that was said wrong. The majority of people hate being ignored. In fact I cant think of one person who actually likes to be ignored. Now there are people who like to be left alone in certain situations, but when it comes time to get answers to what they need, they dont want to be ignored.
When self-storage property managers are out and about in retail stores, they want good customer service and expect their questions to be answered. With that said, why would they ignore people who come into their business looking for good customer service?
Fact, sometimes the customers coming into a self-storage facility are not being ignored intentionally. When a self-storage office is full of people and the property manager can not get to all of them, sometimes customers may feel theyre being ignored or neglected. What can a property manager do in this situation? If hes engaged with a customer, he can kindly pardon himself for a quick moment and greet the customer coming in, then get back to helping the original customer.
Sometimes the first customer will not mind if the manager helps a customer with a quick question. A busy office is a turn-off to some customers, while its a good sign for others, signifying this is the facility where people want to rent.
If youre in a facility that consistently gets hammered by walk-ins on a constant basis, then you should alert your owner or regional manager that you need additional help during peak hours. These are things the regional manager or owner likes to hear. What they dont want to hear is customers are not being helped because the manager is too busy doing something behind the counter and ignoring customers.
When a customer walks in, stand up, be attentive and be ready to serve him. Have a smile on your face and represent your company well. No one likes to be ignored, so take care of each customer the way you expect to be helped.
Joel Little is the head sales coach at PhoneSmart, a self-storage call center and marketing firm. He's been in the self-storage industry for more than five years, and has been in retail management for more than a decade. He strives daily to help improve the self-storage industry one call at a time, gaining insight from each customer. For more information, visit www.phone-smart.net.