Joe called the local pizzeria for delivery...
or you could say, he tried to. The first three times he called, all he
heard was the buzz of a busy signal. On the fourth try, he was relieved
to hear "brrrng, brrrng" until the third or fourth
ring. Joe had almost given up when, after the sixth ring, someone picked up his
call and with a hurried voice said "Pizza Place, please hold." <click>
Joe said, "Okay" but doubted he was actually heard. The next five minutes on
hold seemed like hours. Someone finally picked up the phone saying, "Mr. Smith?"
"No," Joe replied, "Johnson."
"Oh, sorry," came the reply, "wrong
line." <click> Without another word, Joe was on hold again. Frustrated,
he hung up and picked up the yellow pages.
"Not my business", you
say? Most business owners would be surprised by how poorly organized their
telephone answering can be. Yes, some problems can be addressed by proper
training, counseling of personnel, and low turnover but when business really
picks up, you need to be sure that each call is handled as politely and efficiently
as possible. As you know, your customers' time is valuable.
When Joe called his second choice
he was surprised to have his call answered on the first ring.
"It's Friday night, and you've called
the most popular pizza place in town! So hold on and your call will be answered
quickly."
While he waited on hold, he was treated
to upbeat music pizza jokes, and daily specials. He was almost sorry when a
friendly voice answered.
"Thanks for waiting, Mr. Johnson.
This is Mike. We have a special today on your favorite: medium, thin crust with
double pepperoni. Would you like to order that or can we make something else
for you?"
Dumfounded, Joe replied, "Um, No,
thank you. The double pepperoni is actually what I wanted. How? ...never mind."
"Ok, that'll be $14.95. Please verify
your street address; is it still Oak Street?"
"Um, yes. 2303"
"Ok, we'll see you in just under
a half hour. Thanks for calling Mr. Johnson."
As Joe replaced the handset in the
cradle, he noticed that the entire call lasted only two minutes.
So who paid more for a phone system?
Of course the second pizzeria invested a little
more into a system capable of using caller ID
to look up a customer's record (including past orders) and display it on the
order takers' computer screen. They also employed one that allowed customized
music on hold as well as a feature known as Automatic
Call Distribution (ACD), which answered the phone and placed Joe
in the shortest possible line waiting for an attendant. Couple that with order
takers who are under much less stress (and it shows), and we have one happy
pizza customer.
Guess who gets called first the next time?!
So, who got more out of their phone system?
By the way, one national pizza chain discovered
that each store with a system like the second pizzeria* sold $1000 more each
week than they did on cheaper phone systems. Now
that's a lot of pizza!
Pizza Story © 2000 Bruce D Kuehn
A Special thanks to Beth Ardoin for
a fantastic editing job.
* See your Dectel representative for details on a phone system customized
to your needs and the needs of your customers.
