Your customers want technology.
Yes, even older customers are starting to turn towards doing business online or enjoying more modern technology at businesses—even if not at the same rate as millennials are Gen Z.
Just because more older adults are accepting technology’s value doesn’t mean they don’t need help, though!
In this article, we’ll cover some tips to help you teach your self storage customers to use your website and the technology at your storage facility.
Modern technology can make life easier for both you and your storage customers.
The right technology makes overlocking and removing overlocks trivial. A great access control system improves security and access for self storage customers.
There is a wide variety of self storage software out there that—if used properly by managers, operators, and tenants—improves the entire self storage experience across the board.
The catch is that part in the middle: it needs to be used properly.
It’s not only your older customers that might struggle, either. Even Gen Z, the world’s digital natives, struggle with technology. In some studies, there’s even evidence that digital nativism—or being born into a digital world—creates technological dependency but not literacy.
Gen Z expects and seeks tech, but that doesn’t always translate into being digital savants.
If you or your customers don’t understand the proper usage or even value of the technology available at your self storage facility, you may instead end up with a frustrating situation where you’ve paid money to implement a system that actually hurts your storage facility’s business in the long run.
That’s why it’s important for you to be able to teach your customers how to properly use the software and technologies at their disposal when doing business with you.
But first, you need to be prepared to do that teaching in an effective way.
There are a couple of things you need to do before you try to teach your customers.
First, you need to be trained to use the software or technology you’re trying to teach.
Even if you’re able to kind of stumble through using it yourself, teaching something is a whole different game. And if you aren’t able to answer some basic questions that your storage customers might have, this will hurt their confidence in your business and create a frustrating customer experience.
If you’re not entirely sure how some of the tech your employ really works, take the time to reach out to your vendors and get the information you need. Not only will this pay off with a better customer experience at your facility, it may also teach you a thing or two you could do that you weren’t even aware of.
Second, identify your customer’s starting point.
Maybe your customer gives your storage facility a call at the beginning of the month because they can’t figure out how to pay online.
Sounds simple, right? Instruct them on where the link to pay on your website is.
It could go deeper than that, though. Maybe they don’t even really know how to get to your website. Maybe they’re a customer that came from an aggregator and bookmarked your page on that site as a shortcut.
Maybe they aren’t sure how to log in, or they are confused about what your payment portal is asking for.
Customers don't always ask the right question. When your customer doesn’t know what they’re doing, it also means they don’t know what they don’t know. It’s your job to identify that—often with a few probing questions early on—and go from there.
It might seem like a lot to keep in mind, but a lot of these boil down to one basic concept: empathy. Let’s take a look at them in a little bit more detail, though!
It’s easy for us to become flustered when someone just isn’t getting it.
After all, most of us aren’t rocket scientists. If we understand it, then everyone should be able to, right?
This is a common sentiment. What we need to remember, though, is that we all have different experiences and learning styles. Make sure to remain patient when dealing with customers that are struggling with technology.
The chances are that they already feel bad enough about needing the help to begin with.
You may be able to teach what needs teaching right away and in minutes.
This won’t always be the case.
If what you’re trying to teach your self storage customer might take a bit more time, don’t be afraid to set time aside for it and even schedule a time to help where you can devote the attention it requires.
Depending on the customer’s level of comfort and the complexity of the task, you might want to suggest that they take notes (and maybe even supply the materials to do so if in person).
Taking notes in our own words goes a long way to helping us memorize what we’re learning.
This won’t always be necessary or appropriate. Use your best judgment to determine when it’s a useful suggestion that also won’t offend a tenant!
It should go without saying that building up your customer’s confidence about using your self storage facility’s software or other technology is important when teaching them.
But did you know you should also reassure them that it’s alright to fail?
A big part of why people struggle with technology is that they’re afraid to mess up. This increases their anxiety and can lead to problems remembering what to do. It can also just make them freeze up and choose not to do something at all.
Make sure they know they’re not going to break anything.
Someone is never going to learn how to use your Bluetooth gate access app or make their online rent payment if you do it for them every time they ask for help.
If you don’t mind being the person to do it every time, then maybe that’s alright!
In many cases, though, you should probably teach without doing. Let them get the hang of it by doing it with your guidance so that they don’t need that help down the road.
This will also make them feel better about their experience at your storage facility!
Have you ever gone to a talk at a tradeshow or spoken with a salesperson and felt like they were speaking a different language when talking to you about their topic or product?
It’s critical that we remember not everyone has the same base vocabulary on a topic that we do!
Avoid using as much jargon as possible. Even some of the simplest technical terms can end up throwing someone for a loop if they’re inexperienced with the internet or other technology they’re struggling with.
If you’re not sure just how basic you should go or how to explain a term to someone, you might take a look at age UK’s glossary of internet terms as a starting point.
This won’t necessarily help you with teaching people about your access control or other systems. But it will help when guiding your self storage customers through your website and online payment portal!
Make sure your customer knows why the technology benefits them. It’s not always apparent.
In many cases, you can lead the interaction with a quick comment about why the technology is so great (for customers, not for you). Then, once you’ve guided them through their learning journey, restate that with a bit more depth.
For example, don’t just teach someone how to pull up your gate app and let that be the end of it. You should also then explain why the app helps by making sure they can’t ever lose their key and by helping keep their belongings even more secure!
Have a customer asking for help logging in and paying on your website?
Recommend that they get on autopay.
Signing customers up for autopay benefits both you and your storage tenants by ensuring forgetfulness doesn’t lead to collection calls down the road!
If you’ve had a customer ask for help understanding how to use your website, access control, or other technology used by your self storage business, follow up with them down the road.
Give it a month or so (depending on what the issue was), and then reach out to them as a courtesy. Ask them if they’re still having trouble.
They might be confused still but afraid to ask again. And even if they’re not struggling still, this is a great way to go above and beyond and turn your self storage customer into a champion for your storage business!
Want to learn more about running a self storage facility and the state of the industry? Here are some of my other favorite posts!
At StoragePug, we build self storage websites that make it easy for new customers to find you and easy for them to rent from you.
