By Glenn San Luis
One of the misconceptions about continuing education is that it’s expensive, hence suitable only for those in large companies with generous budgets.
Many fail to see the value that a focused and practical approach could provide, whatever the size of the business.
A few months ago, we customized a “high-impact sales and customer service excellence” workshop for Loc&Stor 24/7, a small but growing company offering convenient, secure and professionally run self-storage facilities.
We spoke recently with Anna Peterson, Loc & Stor director, to find out what their experience with Inquirer Academy’s customization process taught them.
Why did you need this type of workshop?
We offer a secure, self-storage facility featuring various size units in four locations in Metro Manila. While this concept is understood and accepted in many countries such as in the United States and Europe, many in the Philippines are unfamiliar or unsure of what exactly this means for them. Hence, there is a need for longer explanations of the available options, either by phone, e-mail or during face-to-face visits with clients.
This means that our sales staff or anyone who faces a customer should be adept at probing customer needs and offering appropriate alternatives.
How did you find the customization part of the workshop?
We appreciated the efforts of the resource person to understand our business, even acting as a “mystery shopper” and visiting the premises and asking questions. He was able to assess where we were at that point and suggested practical improvements during the workshop itself.
We aim to provide a world-class self-storage experience to all our customers, and to achieve this, our sales team needs to understand what excellent customer service means and what it looks like. If you have a storage challenge, our sales team will get to know you and your storage needs before giving a practical solution.
What was the impact of the workshop? Are the learnings still relevant to members of your team?
