Tomorrow I am biting the bullet and installing a call sequencer. As nearly every customer starts their order with “what are your specials today?” I have leaned more and more towards this. I will offer a quick special at the front of the message as well as direct callers towards my website for specials and online ordering. I know that some customers will not like the phone being answered first by a machine but I have seen how effective these can be at suggestive selling. If I can eliminate even just 1 out of five of the “what are your specials?” I will consider this a success. I’ll post updates on how it’s working over time.
I have been looking at these things for 15 years. I’ll let Paul test it let me know how it goes. That way its his money and not mine. Haha I hope it works well. I want our phones answered by a live person but sometimes it is too busy. It seems these devices have both good and bad points.
Which one are you getting? And are you installing it yourself?
David
I’m not even sure what one I’m getting. At Pizza Expo I told Mike Wick from www.messageonholdservice.com to get it set up for me. I have used the message on hold from him for 5 or 6 years so I’m confident he’ll set me up with the right equipment at the right price. Installation is tomorrow so I’ll get the details of it then. I’ve got a good way to test it’s effectiveness right at the start. We are introducing a new pizza that has only been advertised on our TV commercials. So far I’m only selling 10 or 15 a week. This will be pushed in the beginning or our message so I should really get to see if it works right off the bat.
Well…we use an auto-attendant that answers all my calls…then gives just a 2 menu tree choice - press 1 to hear specials, press 2 to place an order…
We don’t use a traditional land line/hard wire teleco, but are all VOIP (2 lines + my cell - all lines ring @ once till answered)…I can add cell lines as needed (shift leaders etc)…
With my on-line ordering, my life has improved dramatically…and my phone bill is only $35
How are you doing this? I know it’s possible, but I haven’t been able to figure out the exact logistics of it. I have a land line with my main number, when it’s busy it rolls over to two magicJack lines. I have two VOIP lines that I’m paying for, but haven’t set up yet.
Paul,
Please keep us updated…this has been on my to-do list for years but I think some of our customers would get turned off. We don’t get alot of calls about specials but they do ask from time to time.
Good Luck!
Indie…I, too, have a MagicJack, but I don’t like it/use it on my system as it jumps to voice mail too quick when combined on the system…
You need a LinkSys phone adapter to use regular phones w/VOIP- quite like Vonage uses…even Vonage is an option for some…
There are many companies selling VOIP/Auto attend - they can handle the transfer of your main # to there system & set up new #'s for your 2 VOIP lines…
Do a google search & make some calls…I use nextiva.com (I’m on a spec deal w/them ) but have been pretty happy…
I’ve only had 1 outage (of course on a Friday)…if I were to do it again, I’d get transfer my main # to a cheap cell phone & auto forward that to the VOIP auto attend, so if there were a similar internet prob, I could at least stop the auto forward & use the cell to answer calls…
But 4 $35 - Its been well worth it…no one has ever complained about the service & appreciate the specials w/o asking…
So, I would still pay the $10/mo. for each of my VOIP lines, then pay this company to handle routing to those numbers? The website isn’t quite clear about that. How is the sound quality? My MagicJacks are pretty crappy about that.
Indie - not sure if your question was to me…but…
Who are you paying the $10/line to?
You need a “fast” cable svc - mine costs me $65 & I get 5 static IP address’
The LinkSys adapter sits on/by the modem & plugs into into the modem/router
Your land-line then plugs into the LinkSys…
The VOIP company needs the address of the LinkSys & forwards the calls to it…
Then thru their interface, you can set it up to receive/forward calls to other cell #'s ot MJ #'s
So, when you add it all up, it is a bit cheaper than a traditional land-line w/multi-lines - plus you get a free auto-attendant…