Selling Strategies
TECHNOLOGY THAT WORKS
Who’s on Hold?
Hosted PBX offers a cost-effective fix for customer service
BY GREG BRASHIER
With the downturn in the
economy, good old-fashioned
customer service can be a major differentiator for businesses trying
to keep their existing customers and
attract new ones.
Businesses that interact with and sell
to customers over the telephone must
be particularly vigilant that their phone
technologies don’t inadvertently alienate
their customers. Positive perceptions can
quickly erode if customers encounter
too much on-hold time, unclear directions on how to reach appropriate service personnel, or (the most dreaded of
outcomes) a busy signal.
Many companies are finding that
hosted private branch exchange (PBX)
phone service technology can be a cost-effective tool that also helps them improve their phone presence and customer
responsiveness.
A hosted PBX service provides customers with advanced phone answering
and call-routing features—without the
expense of purchasing their own PBX
hardware or the added costs of installation, ongoing maintenance, and support. It’s ideal for small and mid-sized
firms, companies with a distributed
workforce, and those that want toll-free
number services.
Vicorp Restaurants, which owns Village Inn and Bakers Square restaurants,
is widely known for its award-winning
freshly baked pies. However, its archaic
phone system had started to become a
liability during the company’s busiest
time of the year, Thanksgiving through
Christmas. A large number of customers
seeking to order pies received busy signals or were put on hold for long periods
before reaching a live person who could
help them. Vicorp decided it was time to
establish a more efficient way to handle
the holiday rush and provide great service
for its pie-loving customers.
After researching potential solutions,
Vicorp contacted us to help improve
responsiveness. The company paired
a new online ordering system with our
TrueACD (Automatic Call Distribution) queuing capability. With this in
place, Vicorp was able to use its existing
phone numbers to answer multiple calls
simultaneously and provide a customized greeting that offered callers new
options, which included waiting a few
moments to speak with someone or
choosing the online ordering system
to place their order. If callers
decided to wait for a live person, the queuing system
quickly directed them
to open phone lines.
After the first year of
using a hosted PBX
paired with the
new online
ordering
system, pie
sales rose 10
percent.
Some systems also have the ability
to set limitations, such as the number
of callers on hold at once or the amount
of minutes a caller can be on hold before taking additional actions, to ensure
higher customer satisfaction.
Of special interest to franchise operators, this technology has the ability
to provide a central call location that
easily routes callers by ZIP code, area
code, etc. to the appropriate location.
Franchises can also tap into features
that allow customers access to information on expected wait times, or that
take a caller’s phone number and have
a live representative return their call in
an expedient manner.
Applications of a
hosted PBX technology
Hosted PBX companies focus on providing multiple applications that help
businesses cost-effectively manage high
call volumes in a professional manner.
Benefits typically include:
• reduced wait time for customers by
implementing technology they can use
to set a minimum wait time for callers
before directing them to voicemail;
• personalized greetings to inform
and educate callers; and
• “intelligent” call direction so customers end up speaking with the right
person.
Choosing a hosted PBX
When choosing a hosted PBX supplier,
it is important to look for companies
that are continually assessing market
demands and providing new applications
to address changing needs. Franchisors
should consider the volume of calls re-
ceived, the size of the company, and
the number of people, both
internally and exter-
nally, who will ben-
efit from a hosted
PBX solution.
Businesses should
also pay attention to
price points for differ-
ent services and call-
ing options to find the
plan that best meets all of
their needs. A good option
for one business might be a
provider that offers all-in-one
services, while smaller firms might be
better served with a base plan that offers
other options for an additional cost.
Franchise businesses should also
look for a company that allows for flexibility and personalized management
options that are intuitive and easy to
use, such as those with a comprehensive web-based interface for making
updates. The objective of employing a
hosted PBX is to provide callers with a
positive experience, but not have it be
so complex that the technology cannot
be easily implemented to help the business achieve success. n
