When I moved to Portland, I looked for a storage unit that didn't cost a lot...I called a bunch of places and quickly found out that storage units--like most everything else--are being bought up and managed by big companies...they not only wanted twice what I paid in Ashland (not the cheapest spot on earth), but I had to pay something up front. It was either a $25 move-in fee, a clean-up fee, a deposit. And I'd have to fill out forms and promise not to hold wild naked lady parties or move a meth lab into the unit...it was all impersonal with a heavy feeling that I was up to no good...

I kept calling, moving farther and farther out from Portland, until I ended up down south in Wilsonville at Sherlock Self-Storage. The minute I talked to Riley on the phone, I knew I had found my kind of place. Yes, he had a unit available. Yes, my son could stop there on the way to Ashland and reserve it for me. And yes, he'd take a check. When I went there myself a week later, I found that Riley had charged me from the first of the next month, even though I had taken the unit 10 days early. It wasn't that he was desperate for customers--he was almost full, in fact. He's just a really sweet guy who genuinely likes people and likes to do good things. We talked a bit; he's in his late 70s, just remarried after caring for his first wife, who died of cancer.

But, it's more than just being a nice guy. Riley understands good customer service. He doesn't have an MBA (at least I don't think he does). He hasn't read manuals on being #1. He's got a computer in his office, but he meets your eyes when you come in and talks to you, tells you stories if you want to listen.

When I think of the kinds of places I want to do business, it's places where people genuinely like people. They want to give you good service. That's more than just doing the job right and giving the customer what s/he wants. It's about connecting, being interested in your job, being interested in the other person...even being thankful that this person is spending money in your store!