» Quality Assurance

There are many self storage companies out there that are trying to figure out how to ensure each customer is handle property and with outstanding customer service. Naturally the person behind the desk at the self storage facility should have the most knowledge about their facility and they should be the ones to handle the calls the best. Unfortunately this is not always the case. The reality of it is, the manager on site could be good at a number of things and maybe customer service is not a top one. They could be good at managing the property but freeze up when a customer enters their doors. If you want to deliver great quality customer service to your potential tenants, it would be a great idea for you to hire a self storage call center.

Finding the right call center could be an easy thing or difficult search. There are great call centers out there with reps on their staff that do such a good job and have been in the self storage industry so long, they are now experts. It is good to have someone answering your phones that know just as much about the self storage industry as you do. Why would you try to hire an not so experienced staff to be on your team when you know there are truly some great call center s out there who have experts on hand. These reps will be able to answer most questions about self storage and your facility. If they do not know the answer, they will defer the question to their manager.

When having a call center that is knowledgeable that should make the manager on site happy. They also have to understand that the call center rep can perfect their craft because this is their only job. They do not have other responsibilities as the onsite manager does. The reps sole responsibility is to reserve spaces and get the customer down to the store for a visit. At that point the manager on site will take over and get them rented. The manager onsite should be happy about having a call center because they do not have to take phone calls as much. Now they are able to focus on other things such as their property maintenance, keeping the office clean and well stocked, etc.

If you find a good call center to help improve the quality of your self storage facility, they can be treated as an extension of your company. It is good to have a great working relationship with your call center because you are able to call them when you have a question or need to change something  or to simply inform them on a mistake they made. When a customer calls that have talked to the call center, the manager on site should refer to the call center as one of their own employees. That should make the customer’s transition from first call to renting the space much easier as well as less confusing.

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I do not think there is anyone out there that likes to clean up the messes that are made by other people. We all want to ensure that we do our best the first time so that we do not have to fix the mistake made by ourselves or one of our associates. We work very hard daily to improve ourselves but sometimes we do fall short of the expectation that is laid out. Of course we do not aim to mess up but it just happens naturally, because in fact we are just human. So how can we ensure that we do what is asked of us right the first time.

First of all we need to make sure that everyone on our team is trained property and that they know what is expected of them. Every rep needs to know what they are supposed to do day in and day out. They are supposed to know if they pick up phone or a customer walks into their store. This should make representative feel great because they know how to serve that customer because of their training. Without their training the representative would be lost and that could be a train wreck for the business. The more time you spend with the rep perfecting their presentation the better they will be when it comes to taking care of the customer the first time.

You are not able to teach passion. The person has to have that passion deep within them and they have to want to improve or to ensure the business is doing well. When something new comes out that could improve the way a representative takes a phone call that rep should want to do their best to improve and to help the customers out that they speak to. In the self storage world, everything seems to change so often. With that said, if the rep has the passion to keep up with the changes and apply the new changes to their presentations, they will help make the overall company better. If they do not pick up on the new information quickly, that could lead to mistakes. You have to have people on your team that have the passion to want to take care of the issue right the first time.

When a mistake happens in any industry especially self storage, the person in charge needs to do what is necessary to ensure that mistake does not repeat itself. Depending on how bad the mistake was, a rep could be terminated, suspended or even demoted. Hopefully as a manager you do not have to face anything like that and you can just ensure the rep had the proper training then move on. Otherwise it is very important to have a policy in place for when a mistake happens so you can show that you do not want anyone else on your team to repeat this mistake. Holding your people accountable for their actions is very important and could make or break your business. If a representative knows they can make a mistake and nothing happens to them, there is a big chance that that mistake or another one will happen.

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Oftentimes a place of business will have a visitor from the regional, district or even the corporate office. The store sometimes now when that person is coming so they are able to prepare for the visit. When they think of preparing for the visit, what do you think they need to do? For the most part you will see the manager of that individual store flying around making sure that every aisle is cleaned properly, all representatives know the information they are supposed to know, all paperwork and such is in order, etc. This is what they believe their visitor is looking for so they bust their butts to ensure this is happening the way it is supposed to be. Sometimes they do all these things and the district or corporate personnel are not even looking for those things. The things listed above are what the upper management expects.

In any business you have to lay out what is expected from each level of the organization. After you lay out what is expected from everyone, you then need to make sure they understand so there is no confusion. What potentially could happen is that a team member can say they didn’t understand the instruction thus not doing what was asked. Follow up is very important when expectations are laid out. So when higher management is coming for their visit, they are expecting the basics are already being followed. Most likely they are coming to talk about new initiatives and to offer their help on any given topic.

To the higher management team it would often give them a sense of amusement or even disappointment when they do not see the basics done. If the basics are not done then how can they expect a store to move on to a different level? There have been times in which the corporate team has come into a location and walked back out because the basics were not done. They did not feel they needed to waste their time with that store. That is more than just an embarrassment.

The best way to ensure that your visitors will enjoy their visit is ensuring that the basics are done without mention and you are working toward fixing whatever issues you are having. You should not wait until the day before their visit before you begin to inform your staff of the things they need to do. You should be looking over your business daily and ensuring the quality of our service is above standard. The more emphasis you place on checking your systems and making sure the expections are met, the better you are off in the long run. If you are able to identify any problem early, you could potential avoid any disaster that could come your way. On a daily basis, check to ensure the basics are up to par. It should not take you very long if this is an everyday check. Eventually the basics will be so perfect that you will not have to check them as often.

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What would happen if you thought your business was doing very well but in reality there were huge issues that needed to be resolved? As a business how to do you really know what areas of your business need the most help? This question has been tossed around the business industry for quite some time. Companies have been trying to figure out how to maximize their customer service and make sure the quality of their product is outstanding. Someone had the bright idea to have a department that does quality control that can monitor the level of service that is given to the customer.

Businesses are always looking at different ways to have an edge over their competition. When one business is doing something well and their stock is rising, they are not always quick to announce what they are doing differently to account for this rise in performance. They leave many people and companies to speculate which can drive other companies crazy trying to determine the change in the other company. All it took was for a company to focus squarely on how to make the customers happy and what they can do better to improve their quality. No one wants to be known as a company that does not have a strong, quality product.

Trying to determine how to go about improving your quality or at least monitoring it, at times, can be a difficult process. First you have to determine whether or not you want to have people who work for the company doing the quality inspections. The other choice is having a company who specializes in the quality assurance field do all of your inspections. There are perks to both options.

Having a division of your company doing quality checks is a way that some companies go because they will have people in place that know the business. They can ask the right questions, they know the systems, and they know the people. So when they find something that is causing some quality issues, they can go to the right person to make the necessary changes. Depending on the size of the company, the head of the company might be able to save time and resources by adding these duties onto the current duties an associate had.

When a company decides to go with an outside company to do their quality checks, they are ensuring a couple of things happen. One thing is that they know the outside company will be fair and stick with the facts. Their opinion will not be compromised because they know the company or they know the people that their reports could potentially affect. The other thing they ensure happen is that all the reports and assessments will be done correctly, accurately, and they will not be distracted. When hiring an outside source, this is what they specialize in. They are not trying to perform multiple tasks within the same workweek that are not related to each other.

Your company has to make the right decision and hire a company or create a division that can ensure the quality of their products and service. No CEO or president of a business wants to be blindsided by negative customer comments that can in turn affect the stock prices. Every company that is considered a top company has some sort of quality assurance program to ensure things are running smoothly. Do you have a system in place to check your quality?

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All organizations from Etobicoke storage to Saskatoon electricians employ a wide range of scientific measures to ensure quality assurance also known as QA so that their customers are happy and satisfied with the quality of their products and services. Since majority of businesses are short-staffed, QA responsibilities are generally handed over to established market research companies. Such companies adopt several different techniques to determine how the company scores on quality issues.

QA Techniques

Ensuring QA is not an easy task. It requires the use of several methods to evaluate awareness of factors that constitute good customer service, to understand the fundamental principles of quality improvement, to recognize the significance of value and to discover innovative ways of improving quality processes at all organizational levels. Quality assurance thus demands using the proven principle of management decisions based on real-time facts. The ultimate goal of QA is to incorporate these principles and ideas into the company culture.

QA techniques refer to the deployment, development and maintenance of all systems associated with quality-enhancing business processes geared towards total quality management. It thus fosters a strategic approach focused on boosting a continuous course of incremental quality enhancements. QA methods also serve to establish a collaborative culture among different departments within an organization. In short, QA is basically a cultural initiative and an innovative style of management.

QA Processes

Quality assurance deploys several proven processes – the most popular one being mystery shopping. In this method, a trained QA professional – pretending to be a genuine shopper – visits a business outlet and casually examines the products, services and customer service factors. Since the employees at the outlet remain unaware of the real identity of this shopper, they behave as naturally as they normally do. In the meanwhile, the QA professional closely studies the attitude and approach of the business and makes mental notes of the quality aspects. Some mystery shoppers may even secretly record conversations within the outlet for later research.

Another popular QA technique is conducting customer surveys. Here, the QA professional interviews customers with a carefully researched and compiled set of questions related to the quality of products and services offered by the company. The responses of customers help the company in understanding customer requirements better and determining the areas that need improvement.

QA Advantages

The main advantage of QA methods is that they educate the company on the expectations of the customers and on how the company rates in terms of quality. This awareness helps the company determine the best ways to bring about changes that would ensure quality at all organizational levels. Results of analysis and testing protocols for QA offer a real documentation of customer needs when compared to a vague assumption by the company.

QA results also clarify what aspects the customers are happy about and what changes the customers expect in other aspects. If customers appear satisfied with a particular aspect of a product or service, the company must make all efforts to ensure that the particular quality aspect remains steady. On the other hand, if some areas demand improvement, the company must be willing to make necessary changes at the earliest. Improvements introduced may involve redesigning a product, value-additions to the existing services or even QA initiatives like improving the customer service provided by particular personnel at a store.

Today, there are plenty of established QA market research companies that offer excellent services of ensuring QA on behalf of other companies. In addition to evaluating the quality of a business, these companies also analyze competition and offer training programs.

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