Zeidler`s - Alternate Access

Florist Centralizes Operations to Improve
Customer Service & Sales
Case Study: Zeidler’s Florist
Issues
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Inefficient communication across 5 field locations
Inability to self-administer phone configuration at will
Desire to take customer service to a higher level
Solution
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Advanced IP-PBX with Voice over IP and Intuitive Administration
Auto attendant for queuing calls to the most appropriate agent
Integration with florist POS software
Automated Delivery Status Notification
Remote access to phone system for management
Consulting specific to phone system for florists
Results
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Seamless call handling [routing, transfers, etc] across 5 locations
Increased call handling volume
Staff reduction of 25 —35%
Increased designer productivity by offloading calls
Greater bandwidth in both telecommunication and electronic communications
For over 100 years, Zeidler’s has provided superior floral services to loyal
customers in the Evansville and Newburgh, Indiana areas. Ownership
may have changed since the company’s start in the early 1900s, but the
owners’ values have remained the same. Each one, including current
owner and president, Blake Mobley, has been committed to its customers, employees and community. Each has also been committed to growing the business – so much so that Zeidler’s has been recognized as an
FTD® Top 100 Member nationwide for over 30 years and counting.
Mobley’s most recent plans for growth included centralizing production, delivery and the company’s phone system so that all five Zeidler’s locations were linked to work seamlessly as one.
Mobley and his management team broke the centralization process down to take place over two
years. However, once point-of-sale software had been installed at Zeidler’s, the staff of 80 used
the existing phone system briefly before realizing full efficiency could only be reached by installing a new phone system.
Reasons for installing TeleVantage™
“We realized the immediate need for a more advanced phone system – integrating a call center
solution – in order to make the business run seamlessly,” stated Mobley. “We were a quasi-call
center. Each location would answer their phones directly, and they would transfer the calls to
our call center at peak times.” However, transferring calls was very cumbersome. Zeidler’s
needed a feature-rich solution that would allow the florist to centralize call-center functions.
Having seen the TeleVantage™ IP-PBX system in action at another florist, Mobley was impressed by
the numerous features it offered – the auto attendant, the call queuing options, and the ability to
quickly route any call to the right person. He was also impressed with how easy TeleVantage made it
to monitor and controll call flow, as well as how effortless the package was to use, maintain and customize.
Mobley commented, “There were a lot of packages out there that had auto attendant and queuing
features, but finding one that we could actually maintain ourselves was important.”
Choosing Alternate Access®
While Mobley had done research on various local phone system providers, the vendor for his pointof-sale software recommended Raleigh, North Carolina-based Alternate
Access®. Mobley used his florist peer group as a network to research
different solutions and was seriously considering other phone systems
when he contacted Alternate Access CEO Kelly Lumpkin.
During their conversations, the Zeidler’s owner became increasingly impressed with Lumpkin’s complete knowledge of the system – its capabilities, its limitations, and how it could improve customer service. More
importantly, Mobley was impressed by Lumpkin’s knowledge of the floral
business.
“He understood my customer,” commented Mobley. “When I talked to
Kelly, I gained great confidence in his knowledge of the floral business and call centers in general. It
became the easy choice because he could teach me a lot more than I could teach him.”
Calls weren’t coming up roses
Valentine’s Day 2006, falling on a Tuesday, was Zeidler’s first one using the new system. “In this
business we deal with a lot of men who order at the last minute for Valentine’s Day,” stated Mobley.
“We knew our call volumes would be huge on Monday and Tuesday.”
To prepare for the busy holiday, the Zeidler’s staff devised a complex plan for routing calls that involved sending a significant number of overflow calls to their after-hours phone service. Little did
they realize the impact this would have on line usage, customer wait time and abandon rate.
“Each call routed to our phone service actually tied up two lines – an incoming and an outgoing,”
recalled Mobley. “We couldn’t figure out what was happening. We noticed an abundance of calls, but
no orders. Our abandon rate was huge.” Problems were further exacerbated by limited bandwidth on
their Web site, which was being used as an easy method for temporary agents to accept orders.
As a result of the combined issues, Zeidler’s missed out on a lot of potential business.
Brainstorming to eliminate another snowstorm
“That Valentine’s Day was like a snowstorm – everything that
could go wrong did,” said Mobley. “After the holiday, we called
Kelly, and he explained to us what was happening with these
lines.”
Mobley recalled hours of brainstorming with his management
staff and Lumpkin. “He was there – always pleasant,” commented Mobley. “Even though the problems were not related to
Alternate Access, he listened and offered advice and solutions.”
Lumpkin recommended programming the system so that
Zeidler’s could manage more calls in-house, with limited calls directed to the after-hours phone service during business hours. He also suggested implementing a prompt at the beginning of the auto
attendant that could be remotely activated during times of inclement weather. If inclement weather
forced the Zeidler’s staff to stay home, shutting down the florist, Mobley could easily activate the
prerecorded greeting from a cell or home phone – ensuring that customers would remained informed.
Better Valentine’s Days ahead
The brainstorming and subsequent suggestions proved to be beneficial during the 2007 holiday.
“Because of that discussion with Kelly, after the 2006 mishap, we probably had the most efficient Valentine’s Day we have had on the phones as far as the call volume we were able to handle,” said
Mobley.
Zeidler’s phone room manager, Jamie Hoagland, used the discussions with Lumpkin to modify the
phone system so that calls were handled more effectively in the call center. She tweaked the routing of
calls and wait times so that callers remained on hold for a more reasonable period of time and kept
more calls handled within the call center. This resulted in fewer overflow calls being sent to the design
center. “Every time a designer is not designing I’m losing productivity,” stated Mobley.
Another way the Zeidler’s management team streamlined incoming calls was by routing delivery inquiries to a select group of agents. “In the floral business the biggest thing that bogs your phone lines on
Valentine’s Day are customers calling to check on deliveries,” said Mobley. “Obviously the Delivery
Status Notification™ feature, allowing drivers to update deliveries real time, is huge, but the other issue is how you handle those calls.”
On the old phone system, when those types of calls would come in any agent
could take the call. Some agents weren’t comfortable finding that information
and would call back to dispatch to ask about the delivery – interrupting the
delivery manager and dispatch staff.
With the new system, Mobley changed the auto attendant and recorded
prompts that instructed callers to press 1 to place an order and 2 for all
other questions regarding deliveries. All delivery inquiries went to a select
group of highly skilled agents who were better equipped to quickly handle
those calls and return to taking orders.
Zeidler’s also worked out the issues with their Web provider, increasing their
bandwidth to keep the Web site and Voice over IP phones running the entire
holiday. They made the online order forms more user-friendly for temporary sales agents. Most importantly, they increased the volume of calls they could manage in-house.
Even with inclement weather stealing some of the potential, Zeidler’s made it through this Valentine’s
Day getting all committed deliveries out, pleasing their customers in that regard.
Reducing staffing costs and increasing efficiency
“On a daily basis we have reduced our staff by about 25 to 30 percent,”
stated Mobley. “Our sales agents can answer so many more calls and are
much more efficient than before.” He estimates a complete return on investment in three to five years based on reduced staffing costs alone.
Overall, the Zeidler’s staff realized more efficient operations in numerous
ways. For instance, the auto attendant and call queue have streamlined
call routing. Where transferring calls to the appropriate person used to be
cumbersome, now calls are easily routed to the right person in a matter of
seconds.
“The auto attendant was the one thing I fought most, but quickly changed
my mind about,” said Mobley. “I wanted a live person to answer each call, and I didn’t want customers
to have to press numbers. ” Then he realized that opting not to use the auto attendant would be a
waste of efficient queuing features, such as programming the system to automatically route order calls
to either the next available agent or an agent with a particular experience level based on management’s predetermined parameters.
“And the queue monitor from a management perspective has been a tremendous help,” added Mobley.
“Being able to see how many agents I’ve got; to see the abandon rate; to support change in redirecting calls – all in real time – I think that has increased our service level higher than ever before.”
Pleasing VIP customers
Zeidler’s has even set up a queue feature for select VIP customers, bumping those calls to the
front of the queue based on the caller’s phone number. This feature has been a big asset in
Zeidler’s maintaining solid relationships with key customers, such as funeral homes.
When Zeidler’s moved to the new automated system, several funeral directors became worried
that they would lose direct access to the managers at each location. To address this concern,
Alternate Access implemented VIP status to these funeral directors. Once they started placing
orders via the new system, the funeral directors gained confidence in the functionality of the
high-tech solution. They realized that the new automated system did not reduce, but rather improved the level of service.
Alternate Access is always there
“Working with Alternate Access has been phenomenal,” said Mobley. “Of all the vendors I have
ever dealt with, Kelly Lumpkin and his team are by far the most efficient and professional.”
Through problems with service providers and issues caused by power outages, Alternate Access
has always provided excellent, timely support for Zeidler’s. “Anytime we have had a hiccup, no
matter what the problem, one call and Alternate Access is instantly there to help us,” stated
Mobley. “It is phenomenal how quickly they are there to help – even if it’s not their problem.”
Mobley cited a problem about a month before Valentine’s Day. His management team held a
meeting to discuss the disaster plan in the event severe weather occurred during the impending
holiday. The next day, the line provider went down – only, the staff didn’t know what the problem was at first. They immediately called Lumpkin, who walked them through the problem to
determine the cause. “He helped us figure it out,” said Mobley. “Again, anything he could do to
help support us, he was there. It wasn’t even his problem, and he helped us get right back up
and running.”
One hundred years of service and counting
“I would consider very few vendors as part of my team, but Alternate Access is one of them,”
said Mobley. “I know Kelly and his team take our interest to heart; they know their product and
know what we are going through.”
Zeidler’s has changed its business operation to provide
higher quality and value, streamlining to do more with less
in a market where 30 local competitors are trying to sell
product at a lower price. Alternate Access and the solution
they provided helped Zeidler’s continue to grow and maintain more than 100 years of commitment to their customers.
For more information on how Alternate Access solutions can
benefit your retail florist business, visit
www.FloralProfitCenter.com or call 866-831-9277.
Phone: (866) 831-9277 | Fax: (919) 831-1821 | www.FloralProfitCenter.com
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