People as the key success factor in the self-storage business

For this reason it is absolutely crucial that we hire staff with that kind of profile and the same vision. Very high selling skills, pro-active approach and individual initiative together with strong customer service orientation shall be the main skills of site managers. If storage center is supported also by assistant, then this one can be more administrative and operational. But at least one of the team members should be sales & service specialist.

If we want to build and share specific company culture and values, then we shall also pay attention to the right attitude. Due to this in an interview, we should not forget about the importance of exploring a potential staff member’s social skills. Sure, most anyone will need some training and mistakes will inevitably be made, but hiring a capable individual with right attitude who loves selling and  cares about people will lead to successful growth of your self-storage center.

City Self-Storage has recognized in its initial strategy that good customer service can set our particular storage facilities apart and differentiate ourselves from other operators.  All self-storage operators are offering great amenities like 24-hour access, climate control, and clean units. So the high level of service and extraordinary sales skills of our people make us different. City Self-Storage has been continuously doing research of customer satisfaction and it clearly indicates that customer service is one of the main reasons to stay with us. In some markets it is even the second main reason for choosing our company. Customer service award 2012 and industry award European Site Manager of the year for 4 years in a row have proven that this has been the right choice.

High level of customer satisfaction goes in line with high level of employee’s satisfaction. City Self-Storage takes regularly part in the largest workplace survey in Europe, “Great Place To Work”, which covers five dimensions - credibility, fairness, respect, pride and camaraderie. The results in three of our markets reach the top league scoring, most employees trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do and enjoy the people they work with. City Self-Storage Spain is ranked as No. 12 Company to work for in Spain.

In correlation with this, the same three markets score highest also in the customer service satisfaction. It clearly proves that having right people with right approach in the right job position makes great impact on the positive business development.
 

Research shows that 81% of companies with strong capabilities and competencies for delivering customer experience excellence are outperforming their competition. It is sure that future trend will move to differentiation in the level of customer service and in the range and quality of added services. This will have indeed impact on the employees´ profile definition and recruitment requirements.