July 2022.

 

What’s In This Month’s Edition?

 

• Quote of the day
• Hairy Maclary
• (The main topic) The Benefit To You Of Our ‘How’s Things’ Phone Call.
• One more twist in the How’s Things tail:
• Did you know:

Quote of the day:

 

I was watching a movie the other day when I spotted on a lawyer’s wall a rather large stuffed trophy trout with a caption under it that read, ‘If I’d kept my mouth shut, I wouldn’t be here’.

I know I could use that advice sometimes but then there are others who use it to the extreme. How often do we hear of family violence to the point where a child is murdered but no one is prosecuted or held to account because they all keep their mouth shut?

Hairy Maclary

 

I saw/heard an article on the TV news a couple of days ago where an Australian academic was critical of this famous children’s book series because she claimed they lacked diversity and inclusiveness. She said that all of the personalities and characters in the books were of or about male dogs. I think perhaps she needs to rethink her position because although all of the dogs’ names may be male all of the ‘side-on’ images that I saw were definitely female. Isn’t that true diversity Lola?

I know what you are thinking. Is all this guy do is watch movies and TV? No.

(The main topic) The Benefit To You Of Our ‘How’s Things’ Phone Call.

 

After a customer has been using one of our lockups for a couple of weeks, we like to phone them just to ask how’s things going using our place. Unlike most businesses

(not just self-storage) we value and appreciate complaints (let’s call it feedback). We value and encourage them for the following reasons:

1. None of us are perfect, and we all make mistakes or don’t do things well from time to time. However, sometimes it’s not obvious to us so unless we ask or are told we don’t know. And if we don’t know we can’t fix it. And if it’s annoying one person it’s probable annoying other customers too.
2. People who don’t complain usually vote with their feet and tell others of their bad experience. That means we never get to find out.
3. Therefore, complaints are like gold to us because they help us remove obstacles that annoy our customers.

So, if we ask for feedback and you give it, we will always investigate and fix the problem if we can. We also promise, if you’ve given us constructive criticism, whatever the outcome, we will report back to you.

Here are some examples:

 

One customer said that when he was moving stuff through the exit gate and driveway to the road, he found the surface a bit rough/pot holey. He was concerned some of his delicate crockery and crystal would bounce around a bit and might get damaged even though they were well packed in boxes. We had no idea this was an issue, so we immediately got a contractor to come and install a smoother surface.

Here’s another example: Just recently we had a gentleman move from one lock-up to another one, but the lighting wasn’t staying on long enough where he was moving to which left him in the dark (a late afternoon in mid-winter). Not only was it not staying on long enough, but the light sensor was down too low which meant it wasn’t just annoying but also a potential health and safety hazard. We had no idea that this was a problem and being the middle of winter compounded the problem. We immediately got an electrician to increase the sensitivity of the sensor and also the time in which the light stayed on. It wasn’t completely a silver bullet, but it certainly made a huge difference.

This leads me to the current complaint (feedback comment) which could have easily affected you too. (This applies during office hours only). We have not only allowed but actively encouraged facility visitors to exit the facility on to State Highway 2 using the Entrance driveway. Of course, this has been the only option available for those who do not have a swipe card – until now. It should have been more obvious to me because the Entrance driveway is single lane and anyone wanting to enter the facility while someone was exiting could have been left compromised on the main road. To be fair the problem has sneaked up on us because of the ongoing increase of traffic. Even so, something had to be done and the solution was not that difficult. It just took someone to point out this had been a problem to them. The solution is, as of the 1^st of July 2022 and during usual business hours only (9am to 4pm weekdays except statutory holidays) the Exit gate will either be open or available to use (for exiting only) when leaving our place.

We’ve erected this sign. We hope it serves as a memory jogger.

As a sum up:

 

We see complaints (feedback) as incredibly valuable. We love them because they draw attention to things we are not doing well, haven’t noticed, or even hazardous and because we don’t know they are a problem we can’t and don’t fix them. So please tell us if you have any issues.

One more twist in the How’s Things tail:

 

As I reported earlier this week my wife and I got Covid. It was confirmed with a RAT test, and we registered the event with the authorities. Today I received a ‘how’s things’ phone call from Belinda at the ministry. How amazing is that? She wanted to see how we were going and do we have enough groceries and medication etc at home.

I said to Belinda do you know how rare after-the-event follow-up ‘how’s things’ phone calls are? Her reply was, ‘people don’t want to know if things go wrong that’s why’.

She’s 100% correct because they take complaints personally and see them as an interruption and nuisance to their day and operation. What can they do with a feedback comment that something they didn’t know about had gone wrong or wasn’t working……if they care about the goods and services they are offering and their customers they can fix it?

Did you know:

 

• We also sell removal and packing boxes. We also and Accessory Shop both at our office and at our website.
• Office rooms for rent. We used to run a design and building construction business (Moss Brothers since sold) where the storage facility now is. This has meant we, from time to time have clean and tidy plus carpeted and airconditioned office rooms for rent. Enquire at the office or view at our website.