Talk Isn’t Cheap…It’s Priceless!
Jackie Ramstedt, CAM, CAPS, CAS ~ Owner, CMO Chief Motivational Officer ~ Ramstedt Enterprises, Inc. ~ Austin, Texas ~ 800.925.5169 ~ www.JackieRamstedt.com
On October 26, I had the honor of speaking to TSSA members for the first time at the annual convention in The Woodlands. My background is in the multi-family housing industry, and I specialize in management performance, sales, resident retention, and customer service training. I have always said that any time you have a product or service to sell, customers who will buy those products, and employees who have an immediate influence on those customers, you have a “common bond” of customer service challenges.
So when I was asked to speak to self-storage managers, I was a little apprehensive at first, given that I had never personally managed a self-storage facility before. So I had no first-hand experience from which to pull from as to your specific issues, since your customers (hopefully) don’t live in their units as they do in the apartment industry!
But I have to tell you, I was incredibly moved by the warmth, friendliness, and openness of every one of your members ready to embrace my suggestions. I soon realized that our two worlds were not so far apart. I began to feel at ease and comfortable with the research I had done on the self storage industry; in fact, during my seminar, I remember saying to myself, “These are definitely my kind of people!”
My seminar was on customer service, which seemed to be a theme throughout the day. During my session, I was thrilled to see the room filled to capacity—probably half who wanted to actually get some new ideas and the other half out of sheer curiosity about who this new speaker was. No matter; I think everyone had a great time, including me!
The last few minutes of my seminar focused on giving your customers what they REALLY want, and I would like to share some of those thoughts…
1. Be available for your customers when THEY need you. Remember they are the ones “voting with their dollars” every month, and their needs come first.
2. If you have a feature—call me silly—it should be working! Broken access gates, lights out, etc. just remind the customer of the level of professionalism and attention to detail (or lack thereof) you are displaying to them.
3. Ask them for their own solutions. Many times we think only on one level when managing our stores. Great solutions can be created by soliciting ideas regularly from your customers. Not only does the problem get solved, but those whom it affects most will feel they have had their say in the matter and therefore will “buy into” that solution.
4. Hire happy people to work at your store! Because you may not see every one of your customers every day, it makes it even MORE important that when they DO see the staff, they are HAPPY! Remember, as I illustrated at my seminar, everyone needs to be on that “Happy Bus” for that first impression AND throughout the customer’s time at your store.
Don’t forget to be a Customer Service Asset….with the acronym of ASSET meaning:
A - Amazing
S - Service
S - Satisfaction
E - Eliminates
T- Turnover!
Running a business isn’t really difficult if you remember this: great product quality and an effective system of good communication with your customers, coupled with positive “happy” attitudes of the staff = Outstanding Customer Satisfaction!
So how was your time at the convention? Mine was PRICELESS!!!