Last week, I drove from Phoenix to Kansas City, Mo., to visit family. I took my grandsons and one of their friends, so the journey necessitated several stops for refreshments and souvenir-hunting.

I must say, we had some diverse service experiences. For example, at one "home of the golden arches," the food was served in a hostile manner and was cold, and the hamburger buns had the texture of a baseball mitt. Ugh! Another place shortchanged my youngest grandson by so much it had to have been deliberate.
 
But there were some occasions that really reinforced my faith that people in the service business are very special. In Amarillo, Texas, our half-way point, we were unable to find a hotel room. Seems a major religious group holds its annual three-week convention there. Despite the hotel being sold out, a young Drury Inn desk clerk tried for 25 minutes to find a room at other locations.

At a restaurant late one night, a truly funny waitress cracked us up with her comments and got our entire convoluted order correct without writing down a single item. There were many other shining, service-with-a-smile moments in the 2,400-mile journey.

This reminded me of a question I posed on our forum, Self-Storage Talk, asking managers how they handle customers who are obviously in crisis. Here’s a sample of the responses:

Wayne says his wife is very good at comforting upset clients. They must make a good team.

John reminds all his managers that 70 percent to 80 percent of customers are in the middle of a life crisis. He defines this as any event that varies significantly from the norm and creates substantial emotional or physical stress. In one month, his staff dealt with four tenant or tenant-family deaths, including a murder. He advises to listen with empathy and work to prevent the storage experience from contributing more stress. Showing compassion to a customer in crisis will go a long way toward polishing the often tarnished image of this industry, he says.

Of course, as Discountmini posted, it's always wise to stay out of domestic disputes and make sure no changes to the contract are made by one party without the consent of the other.

I say bravo to all who are in service work, and a special hats off to self-storage “counselors.” Your jobs aren’t easy, but I know if I need your help, someone out there in the wide world of self-storage will listen.

Got a crisis story? Click the "Leave comment" button and let us hear it.

Some people may not think self-storage is sexy, but others may beg to differ ... especially if one happens to take in the movie thriller of the summer, Sex and the City (SATC).

The New Line Cinema flick blew the doors of box offices nationwide when it opened several weeks ago, reeling in $55.7 million in just a few short days and laying claim to be the best R-rated opening ever for a comedy, according to an MSNBC.com report.  What’s that got to do with self-storage? Let me explain ...

In addition to the scintillating name of the movie and long-lived HBO series, the SATC brand has a stake in anything fashionable, from lattes to laptops, Vivienne Westwood wedding couture to quilted Chanel clutch purses. Or maybe it’s the other way around and anything fashionable wants to have its own piece of the SATC pie, I’m not sure.

Either way, here’s the self-storage hitch for today’s blog: Keeping company with NYC fashionistas is Manhattan Mini Storage, a self-storage company that operates 17 facilities throughout the big city and gets plugged via product placement in several scenes. If you’ve seen the movie, or even one of its many trailers, hopefully you got a glimpse of those now-famous Manhattan Mini Storage boxes scattered here and there on the set.

Will this footage on the big screen bring big paybacks to Manhattan Mini Storage? Only time will tell, but according to an article in the U.K. Daily Mail, “Product placement in movies is vital.” How so? Explains Stephen Cheliotis, chairman of the Superbrands Councils, "If you're watching that film, chances are you aspire to be one of those characters and have their lifestyle.”

The idea of promoting products in movies is not new, but SATC has certainly taken it to new levels, making it a product-placement goldmine, according to an editorial in FastCompany.com. Will it influence other self-storage operators to jump on the bandwagon? Most probably don’t have opportunity for such brushes with fame, but one should never overlook a great marketing opportunity.

The spotlight on Manhattan Mini Storage’s products is well deserved, says Bud Villarreal who, as director of marketing at Schwarz Supply Source, works with the storage operator. “They can only be described as avant garde, cutting edge, blow your socks off stuff.”

And that’s the kind of panache that deserves a slice of the SATC pie, for sure. My hope is that the marketing team at Manhattan Mini Storage is savoring every moment.

For the past couple of months, I’ve been researching and writing about the green movement and how it relates to the self-storage industry. In the July issue, we ran a piece about two self-storage facilities using solar energy, and offered self-storage managers and owners easy tips on creating a more green facility. 

Jill Herbers, public relations for Hall Street Storage, recently contacted us about the facility’s amazing steps toward becoming a green facility. Owner Jeffrey Sitt, a first-time self-storage developer, is determined to create an energy-efficient, earth-friendly facility in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Sitt is converting an old cold-storage building into a multi-story self-storage site complete with a retail store. His diligence and compassion for his community resulted in much of the building’s materials being reused or recycled. Sitt also tapped Brooklyn artist Lisa K. Hokans to create the amazing green-themed mural below. The mural stretches across the front of the building.

Look for the story, Green Building, in the September print edition as well as online.

Jill also clued me into a special presentation by former VP Al Gore gave last week about renewable energy. Here’s what Jill had to say about the speech:

“Al Gore has brought the issue of renewable energy into the public arena.  When he did the same thing about global warming in general with ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ it started the green movement.  Now there will be a new focus on that movement based on energy—working toward taking away carbon emissions, and the use of solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy.

“This is a big turning point. It is the official beginning of the renewable-energy boom. I think this challenge by Gore, and other recent renewable energy landmarks, like T. Boone Pickens’ proposal for wind energy conversion, will bring new interest.”

If you think that you can’t make a difference, think again. Regardless if you’re a self-storage developer, a manager of a single site or only work part time at a local self-storage facility, there are small steps you can take today and every day to make a difference.

If you have tips about going green, please share them via the "Leave Comment" button below.