Reliability Matters: Serve Customers When They Need You Most

Keeping a clean home is part of maintaining a relaxed and happy household, and clean surroundings at work can boost employee morale and increase productivity.

For over 40 years, Stanley Steemer has been welcomed into homes and businesses as trusted experts to take care of their flooring for healthy work and home environments.

Jeff Bratschie is Director of Operations at two Stanley Steemer franchise locations in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Bernalillo, New Mexico.

His responsibilities include overseeing day-to-day operations and assisting training Technicians and Customer Service Advisors (CSAs). In 2017, these locations served 25,000 customers residentially and commercially.

We made a phone call to Nextiva and they were able to switch us over immediately, so we had no downtime. The temporary numbers Nextiva gave us rolled in, and it was seamless.

Jeff Bratschie, Franchise Director of Operations

Eradicate Multiple Location Communication Issues

Bratschie’s locations had Avaya phones with a PBX for ten years. The PBX in North Carolina and New Mexico communicated with each other so the company’s CSA could answer calls for both locations.

Whenever a problem such as a dropped call, poor call quality, or a system outage occurred using the PBX, Stanley Steemer wasn’t sure if it was an issue with the carrier, internet, or the equipment provider.

Bratschie said this resulted in calling many people seeking a solution, and often none could provide an answer as to why the issue was happening.

These repetitive issues led Bratschie to research various communications systems.

A critical factor in selecting the right provider was finding one that could enable easy transfers between New Mexico and North Carolina, and the corporate call centers.

“If all the CSAs are busy, calls need to go to one of our three national call centers. Other providers were not able to have the two locations transfer to a call center,” Bratschie said. “In our search, we came across Nextiva, and they were able to provide what we needed.”

After reviewing Nextiva features and capabilities, including call transferring, Stanley Steemer switched in March 2017.

An Immediate Switch

“We wanted VoIP,” Bratschie said of their decision-making process researching communications providers.

“We wanted to go to the cloud, primarily because with VoIP I would interact with one person. I knew it was either a problem with the internet or the provider. I wouldn’t have to get the equipment-side involved,” Bratschie said.

When they were in the process of porting over numbers, their PBX suddenly went down.

They tried to find a PBX they could use until the switch was completed, but it was going to be expensive.

“We made a phone call to Nextiva and they were able to switch us over immediately, so we had no downtime. The temporary numbers Nextiva gave us rolled in, and it was seamless."

Nextiva was able to save them from spending a lot of money and more importantly, being disconnected from their customers.

We wanted to track the number of calls that came in to Stanley Steemer on a daily basis, and Analytics was able to provide that. I can also look at the call log and see how many jobs they are booking out of those calls, and see what the close ratio is for the CSAs.

Jeff Bratschie, Franchise Director of Operations

Unmatched Customer Support

Stanley Steemer’s onboarding process was simple. Bratschie said it was easy because Nextiva was responsive and clearly communicated what needed to be done via email.

Stanley Steemer has 20 phones in the North Carolina office, and 10 in the New Mexico location that all employees use in various ways depending on their role.

Review Calls

When considering options, they also sought out a system that offered call recording and analytics.

“We wanted to record our Customer Service Advisors to listen for coaching, and if a customer has a question about an invoice or bill, we can pull that call up,” he explained.

Bratschie said each CSA has their own login for call recording to review their calls.

“If there’s an upset customer, I can listen to the original call to see what was going on, and it helps me discuss that situation with those customers,” Bratschie said.

“By listening to calls, we can review what our CSAs are doing, how we can make ourselves better, and improve the experience for our customers.”

Improve Employee Performance with Analytics

The company also uses Analytics to see the call volume CSAs receive to evaluate performance.

“We wanted to track the number of calls that came into Stanley Steemer daily, and Analytics was able to provide that. I can also look at the call log and see how many jobs they are booking out of those calls, and see what the close ratio is for the CSA,” Bratschie said.

Voicemail-to-email and call transferring help increase efficiency, like their nearby franchise location in Gastonia, NC sometimes receive calls, so customers can be quickly moved to the correct place.

Besides, if employees are not in the office, calls can be forwarded to their cell phone, so they don’t miss an urgent call.

Nextiva’s Amazing Service has helped the company increase productivity and find solutions quickly.

When calling Nextiva for assistance, Bratschie stated, “If you don’t know how to do something, Nextiva Support is unbelievable. They help me immediately and solve my problems right away. I never have to make the same call twice, because they always get it right the first time.”

If you don’t know how to do something, Nextiva Support is unbelievable. They help me immediately and solve my problems right away. I never have to make the same call twice, because they always get it right the first time.

Jeff Bratschie, Franchise Director of Operations

Features You Can Actually Use

“The main benefit of Nextiva is the cloud-based system, and the customer service is fantastic,” Bratschie commented.

The system is easy to use, and Nextiva has all the features we need.”

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