Optimizing the Customer – Staff Relationship at Self Storage Facilities
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While the basic demand from storage facilities is that the warehousing units should keep the customers’ belongings secure, the relationship between the customer and the warehouse staff also plays an important role in determining the success of the transaction. The customer looks to the staff for advice, expertise and service of the highest quality. In return, the staff expects courtesy, respect and adherence to protocol on the part of the customers. When both sides fulfil their roles, equilibrium is maintained with both parties completely satisfied with the other. But if either party feels that the relationship is inequitable then there is bound to be some friction, which could escalate into the loss of a customer or a convenience. In order to prevent this, here are a few suggestions to help both parties better understand the expectations of the other when it comes to the use or maintenance of storage facilities.
Understanding the Customer
As a storage manager or assistant you need to know that a person renting a storage unit could either be a homeowner, a business person or a student. And they easily fall into two categories of experienced or novice customers. Experienced customers will demand a very high standard of service and usually know exactly what they are looking for. They do not need too much assistance though this might vary depending on the quantity and the kind of items they are putting into storage. They will know all the procedures to be followed especially if they are returning to your facility for the second time. But this does not necessarily make them easy to handle. The manager or a storage assistant will need to remember that irrespective of the impatience and the demands made by the customer being firm yet courteous will always help ease difficult situations.
Customers using storage facilities for the first time will usually need the most help. Very often they will come to the facility several times and they need to be talked through all the procedures and paperwork slowly and diligently. They might also request for additional help in organizing supplies and transport for the moving and packing. The easier this transition is made for them, the more likely they are to return the next time round. Or they might even decide to maintain a permanent account with your facility. After all it is not only the discounts or the pricing that attract the customers. It is the experience they had the last time they visited your facility that will determine whether they come back.
Co-operating With the Storage Staff
As a customer it is important to note that the staff courtesy and the advice you receive at self storage facilities is a value added service. All the storage company is actually liable for in return for your money is the unit itself and the security around it. So at any point of time if the staff makes an added effort to assist you, it is because they appreciate your business. In return they expect you to pay your dues on time and keep the inside of your unit as organized and hygienic as possible. And they are quite willing to help you do all of this if you only request for it.
Thus having a good experience with using storage facilities does not depend entirely on the staff. It is in fact a mutual relationship. And just like a well satisfied customer can be channelized into becoming the perfect ‘advertisement’, so will a store assistant that you were courteous to go the extra length to smoothen out any creases in your self storage experience.
Article Source: Articlelogy.com
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