Providing ‘Tech-Tastic’ Customer Service in Self-Storage, from Inside Self-Storage.
What does customer service really look like in a tech-tastic world? Walmart Founder Sam Walton said it best: “The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best, but legendary.” Excellent service brings significant rewards, including greater revenue and profit, reduced churn, and lifelong customers. This applies to all industries, including self-storage.
Nordstrom is another retailer well-known for its customer service. The company’s employee handbook contains only a single line on the topic: “Use your best judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.” That’s it. No footnotes, appendix or training guide—just those meaningful words.
This seems to leave little room for technology. By all accounts, customer service is dependent on the quality of the people you hire and the quality of their interactions with customers. Technology is absent from the equation. Or is it?
City Center Self Storage is a small, independent storage operation in downtown Pittsburgh. We’re surrounded by much larger, better-funded competitors; yet we’re consistently ranked highest in overall customer satisfaction by our customers, measured by the number and quality of our reviews on Yelp. We hire, train and empower outstanding individuals—those who embody the Nordstrom ethos. But we go one step further: We surround them with tools and processes that help them achieve legendary customer service through every step of the customer lifecycle.
