Purely Poultry Customer Service

[purelypoultry]

I am considering spending 75 cents a minute on Customer Service. There would be someone always answering the phone 24/7/365. We would have 6 agents dedicated and trained about Purely Poultry. I think it will make Purely Poultry better for the customer, for me, for everyone.

This is the company that I am considering using. http://www.northvc.com/ They have a $100.00 a month minimum and $500.00 setup fee. They are only working with 20 companies right now so the customer service would be personal!

I will still be taking as many calls personally as I can. My problem is there are too many calls that I miss. Any calls that I miss will be forwarded to the call team. If there is a customer that is looking for my help they will take a message or leave a voicemail for me. It would be instead of constantly most people that call going straight to voicemail. At least there will be a friendly voice on the phone, that is experienced with taking Purely Poultry calls 24-7-365. They will have access to an extensive FAQ and handbook on Purely Poultry (which is still being developed). I am also considering that I have a direct line phone number that I give on the contact us page or can give to some customers that only want to deal with me.

I just hate it that the customer goes straight to voicemail when I go to the bathroom, go for a walk, take a lunch break, have a vacation day, leave work for the night, am sick, have shortened hours in the off season. Then when I come back from something like that I have to choose between returning the missed calls, taking the new calls, or responding to emails. I want every customer taken care of immediately. One call resolution.

See I would love to hire someone to take calls. The only thing is I want someone 24-7-365.

Also right now I don't have a regular enough call volume that I could hire someone full time. And even just one person is not enough because there are many times that I have 5 calls come in while I am on the phone with one person. I want all 5 calls to be answered by a human voice right away. I think I would use a service like this even after I hire my first employee.

I really do want your opinion and feedback on this. I am stating my views so that I can get a lively discussion. You are helping me make the decision and see how this shapes up.

 

[purelypoultry]

I want your feedback on my previous post!!! I also want to know, do you trust 1-800 numbers more? Are you more likely to call us if we have a 800 number? If you are more likely to call are you likely to talk longer? Do you think Purely Poultry needs a 800 number?

 

[Opa]

I own a construction business and have found that answering services don't work as well as an answering maching with a well thought out greeting. The services rarely get the messages straight and I've found that a serious customer understands you can't be there 24/7.

 

[purelypoultry]

Opa, I think that yours being a construction business makes it that the answering service really just a person writing down the message for you instead of leaving it as a voice mail.

With poultry, they can take catalog requests, answer questions, take orders, check status of an order, handle customer service issues.

Also with construction business you have SERIOUS customers. With poultry you have customers that if you don't answer your phone they will call the next hatchery.

 

[harleyjo]

Just my thoughts. I hate 800 number customer service numbers. I feel they are indifferent and are just there to collect a pay check. I would be more inclined to move right on to the next hatchery if I had to deal with them. I would rather wait for the call back.