Wire Service After Hours Phone Answering...

[BOSS]

Anyone using either Teleflora's or FTD's after hours phone answering gigs? Do they answer in the US and Canada, or is it farmed out to India?

I've heard of a lot of mistakes, bad addresses etc...

 

[clay]

In talking to Casey Pickny with Teleflora, ALL phone reps are answered in the US......mostly in Paragould, Ark. He "said" that after losing some florists customers in earlier 2012, that they have gone to a new answering assist platform (to better know the florist's info, minimums, specials, etc.), all phone techs have gone through a new training program, and ALL calls are recorded .......if there is a complaint with a particular way one of their phone techs handled a customer call. He "said" that they are also want to find some retired florists that want to take calls from their house during the peak times. I believe it is set up to answer just after hours, or it can anwer after some many rings of not picking up a phone. I have told him I would give it a try, and they said I could bail at any time.,....just waiting for a call forwarding tweak from the phone company.

 

[theRKF]

We tried it for a bit. I know we used the FTD version, can't recall if we also tried the TF version (or just heard similar feedback to the problems we had with FTD's service).

The issue wasn't overseas outsourcing it was dumbass North American outsourcing ... as a manager told me, "it's hard to attract and keep quality people at this (minimum?) wage". So basically, they are cycling through people that can't / won't get work at McDonald's. Now, that was several years ago, and these things can change quickly, so it's probably different somehow by now (note: different, not necessarily better or worse).

Our problems were mostly centred around poor knowledge of our basic business details (taking orders for holidays & after hours), poor grammar and conduct, etc.

 

[bootcampguy]

We also tried the after hours. The costs were to much. We now have in-house answer and just drive traffic to the website and tell them 24/7. During holidays we offer a code to track the conversion. So we push traffice, no costs involved.

 

[mperry]

We tried them but they sold items we didn't have at wrong pricing. I don't know what it's like now.

 

[kt4ye]

The best bet is try calling on some flower shop's number (covered by after service) and see how they handle it. I have tried calling for florists and they were able to assist with the florist issue, but as far as placing orders, they are too slow and not familiar with the products. Also, it is very difficult for someone else to just answer phone calls and assist customers not knowing what you have in your inventory. We just answer our own calls and as earlier noted, it is easier to send them to our own website. We find that most callers are looking at our website and calling us at the same time with questions.

 

[steve]

We had FTD's service for years prior tp dropping FTD Dec 2011. The last 3 or 4 years with FTD service it was horrible the biggest issue being the people could not speak english. Upon dropping FTD we still were member of Teleflora so we moved to their service. The people speak english and are clearly state side. And yesterday (Sunday) they took 4 orders for us the largest being a $600.00 casket piece. My shop mgr thinking that could not be right called the customer to verify that is what he want and sure enough that is exactly what he ordered. They are not perfect but they are doing a decent job for us.

 

[BOSS]

They are not perfect but they are doing a decent job for us.

Is that good enough?

It's interesting if they really do follow up with florist complaints and do additional training with the operator(s) involved, perhaps that will raise their level of competence.

 

[David]

Many years ago we had FTD answering service. To many mistakes. We are open a lot of hours 7 days a week. I think I need it less then shops with shorter hours. I have heard many calls from Tim Huckabee
and I can tell you shops are not doing that great of a job answering their own phones.

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

Many years ago we had FTD answering service. To many mistakes. We are open a lot of hours 7 days a week. I think I need it less then shops with shorter hours. I have heard many calls from Tim Huckabee
and I can tell you shops are not doing that great of a job answering their own phones.

with that said, customers are no longer patient enough to "wait" for a call back REGARDLESS of whom is taking the order, and REGARDLESS that they don't have enough info to TAKE the order!
ONLY two things work, either answer the phones, or leave them ringing....

 

[clay]

It's interesting if they really do follow up with florist complaints and do additional training with the operator(s) involved, perhaps that will raise their level of competence.

It could all be hype, but Casey claims that is the case.

When I am working late hours or on Sunday, I am aware that I am missing a decent amount of phone calls. I am also away that some people just like to call in their order vs. doing it on the internet.....so I am always wondering what orders we might be missing.

There is no contract that I have with them, I can bail in 3 weeks if I find that it is not working out for me......for whatever reason.

 

[Sabrinas]

Here is how we solved this issue, may not work for everyone though. I wanted more compensation for my work as manager. I also wanted a iPhone or similar, but could not justify the monthly cost. My boss now pays for my phone- I went with an android- and I take calls after hours until 10 pm. Any calls I miss for things like church I call back the missed call as soon as I am able. More then pays for the phone bill, and I am knowledgeable and current on our inventory. With our IFN pos I am able to process the order with my phone or laptop and soon iPad where ever I am and check order statuses ect... My daughter works for us as well and if I am driving I hand the phone to her to take am order or tell them I will call them right back since I am driving. They are very appreciative and understanding. 2 weekends ago, got a call a half hour after shop closing for a wedding that had ordered their flowers from a dog and they were screwed, I agreed to.meet them at the shop in 15 minutes and took care of everything fit them, while doing that got another call for a funeral and Wound up making two VERY happy clients and over 1000 in sales when all was said and done.

 

[Flowermomma]

we don't have one.. but we are in a town that rolls up the sidewalks at 5pm and is closed on sundays.

i check the phone for calls missed every morning when i come in .. i write down any numbers missed and give them until 10 am to call me, then i call and ask if they needed flowers? since there is only maybe one missed 2 or 3 times a week, it works for me. the most afterhours calls are ones trying to sell to ME.

 

[clay]

I found this email response, to some of my questions before;

Here are some of the recent changes over the last few months that may help you address these concerns.
Please see below for a list of our current changes that have drastically reduced agent errors for us.
-Spell Check
Our agents now have a spell check system on their computers to catch simple typing mistakes
-Call Recording System
Every call is now recorded between the agent and the customer. We can immediately identify if there were any issues and address them.
-24-Hour Flowers Quality Admin Agent
A Quality agent is now assigned to strictly monitor, mentor, and coach agents to ensure all quality is met on 24-Hour Flowers orders.
-EZ24 Implemented
One of the main struggles we encountered, the agents were required to read all shop instructions when answering the phone. They would simply forget important details such as, always obtaining the email address. We have redesigned our order entry system to have the instructions throughout the order placing process. Now our agents see the information on the “storefront” when answering the phone and while placing the order. For example, we would keep the information on the “storefront” that the agent must obtain an email address. In addition, right above the email address field we would add a reminder to the agent to get the email address. Below is a screenshot example of the storefront notes when the agent answers the phone. Below that you will find a screenshot of the order entry screen where we remind the agent.

 

[jamie]

I found this email response, to some of my questions before;

Here are some of the recent changes over the last few months that may help you address these concerns.
Please see below for a list of our current changes that have drastically reduced agent errors for us.
-Spell Check
Our agents now have a spell check system on their computers to catch simple typing mistakes
-Call Recording System
Every call is now recorded between the agent and the customer. We can immediately identify if there were any issues and address them.
-24-Hour Flowers Quality Admin Agent
A Quality agent is now assigned to strictly monitor, mentor, and coach agents to ensure all quality is met on 24-Hour Flowers orders.
-EZ24 Implemented
One of the main struggles we encountered, the agents were required to read all shop instructions when answering the phone. They would simply forget important details such as, always obtaining the email address. We have redesigned our order entry system to have the instructions throughout the order placing process. Now our agents see the information on the “storefront” when answering the phone and while placing the order. For example, we would keep the information on the “storefront” that the agent must obtain an email address. In addition, right above the email address field we would add a reminder to the agent to get the email address. Below is a screenshot example of the storefront notes when the agent answers the phone. Below that you will find a screenshot of the order entry screen where we remind the agent.

it would be very easy to email that file to the shop who the customer was trying to reach. That would eliminate 99% of the problems. Embed it in an email and let the shop personnel listen for any info that could cause problems. When we were in FTD we were constantly trying to play "Guess That Street" with .com orders. Turtlestown rd would turn into Tuddleston. Suhri dr became Sorry dr etc etc. Any local guy would pick that up in a heartbeat, but out of town phone personnel are flying blind.

 

[BOSS]

Yup..,,,,,,,

 

[bootcampguy]

I just finsihed some consulting for a shop that pays there employees 2 hour (minimum) if they get a call. They forward the main line to each of them as on call basis. So about every 4 - 5 nights till 10pm they are on call. Not for deliveries, just taking orders. I ask how many were from the DOGS and they said many. Jury still out for me on this one, but it works for them.

 

[autj]

The dog orders were my main problem with the service, besides poor service, wrong addresses, selling wrong product,wrong messages,and not being able to give local directions(lost a casket spray on that one). But paying their fees for taking a dog order and the 30 % was way too much for me. TF called last week and promised they had fixed everything, but they still double charge for incoming so , NO Thanks .I'll take my chances on my own