Mike Priest | Franchise President and Owner
Aqua-Tots puts safety first in their state-of-the-art facilities nationwide by offering small class sizes with quality instructors teaching comprehensive curriculum. The schools have various classes for children focusing on certain techniques at each swim level.
Mike Priest is a Franchise President and Owner of ten Aqua-Tots locations in Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Kansas. “I interact a lot with the corporate staff (in Arizona). I am in close proximity to hear what’s going on in the corporate world, as part of their role is to provide support to the franchise owners,” Priest said. “I share the field perspective with them, and how their support is being perceived, which is a cooperative process.”
“The technical support is excellent. Every person we have interacted with on the technical side has been very helpful. While I usually hate getting on the line with technicians and going through things, I don’t mind doing it with Nextiva.”
This open communication between corporate and franchise owners was demonstrated when Aqua-Tots’ corporate office suggested franchise owners use various communications providers, including Nextiva. Priest looked into Nextiva, and the call recording feature caught his interest. “Being able to go back and listen to calls to get a feel for the quality of the conversation...that’s helpful,” Priest commented. He spoke with a Nextiva representative about using a VoIP system, and decided to move forward with Nextiva in 2016, gradually implementing Nextiva at all ten locations.
To implement their new phone system, Aqua-Tots had three provisioned phones delivered to each location. Once plugged in, they spoke with a Nextiva technician on the phone who walked them through programming the phones. In most cases Aqua-Tots had the phones set up and ready to use in 24 hours. “It may not be the same technician that I speak with, but there are a number of technicians who have a similar level of expertise,” Priest said. “So from an owners’ perspective, it’s really nice to be efficient with everyone’s time, get it set up, and have questions answered by one person.”
After their phones were functioning, training Aqua-Tots’ managers and front desk staff to use the system was simple, and if they had questions, they called Nextiva Support for assistance.
Priest said that now before they open a new location, they set up their numbers and a voice recording, and have calls forwarded to the General Manager’s phone using the Nextiva App. They reserve a phone number for the location, and use the App to market the number and answer calls prior to the grand opening. This helps ensure the system is working efficiently before they turn on their additional phones about 30-45 days before to the anticipated open date.
One key feature the company uses is call recording to measure phone call quality with customers during inbound and outbound calls. As a seasonal business, they utilize this heavily in their busy time of year— March through June —to monitor increasing call volume. “This is when parents are making decisions to enroll their children in swim lessons,” Priest explained. “It gives us the opportunity to gauge the increasing amount of customer interest in our business during that time.”
“The number one thing I’ve really appreciated is the technical support,” Priest said of his experience with Nextiva. “Our Account Manager helps get our numbers established and coordinates the timing of that process, plus makes sure technical support is guiding us to assess if we have the appropriate internet speed we need to accommodate the Nextiva system.”
"You’re working with someone who is always knowledgeable. If something comes up, or we want to make adjustments, Nextiva Support has always been there to guide us in the right direction on how to get things solved.”
“The technical support is excellent. Every person we have interacted with on the technical side has been very helpful. While I usually hate getting on the line with technicians and going through things, I don’t mind doing it with Nextiva,” Priest commented. “You’re working with someone who is always knowledgeable, and we can make changes at any time. If something comes up, or we want to make adjustments, Nextiva has always been there to guide us in the right direction on how to get things solved.”
Priest said Nextiva is an easy company to work with, both in sales and support departments. “In the last two years, I don’t think there is a single person we’ve interacted with who has not been customer focused, which is really important to us, because that’s the business we’re in as well.” By utilizing Nextiva, Aqua-Tots can rely on a communications system that helps them maintain their high customer service standards.
“It’s having peace of mind that there is a reliable system in place that we don’t have to mess around with,” Priest said of Nextiva. According to Priest, if they spent time trying to fix constant issues with their communications system, it would decrease their energy put toward serving customers.
He has been happy with the Amazing Service Nextiva provides, stating, “People at Nextiva realize they’re in business because of customers. They put themselves in the customers’ position, and know that based on the quality of the experience, everything else follows in that wake. I appreciate that attention to customers—with Nextiva, it seems to be an innate characteristic.”
