Infotel Systems - Richmond, Virginia : ISDN.COM: Call Forward ID

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Retail Call Center Boosts Sales

The #1 lament of retailers is finding qualified employees in sufficient quantity to provide good customer support. Retailers with multiple stores should consider the customer service (and payroll) benefits of connecting all of their stores with a networked telephone system to provide the good old fashioned customer service everyone expects.

The retailer installs a digital ISDN based telephone system at the main store to handle overflow & unanswered calls from the other smaller stores. No change in equipment is required at the smaller stores. The system uses Caller ID service that shows you the identity of the caller and Call Forwarding to forward each stores unanswered or busy calls to the main store. All digital ISDN telephone service adds "Call Forward ID" that displays the source of the forwarded call you are answering. In a retail scenario where ...

Martha Jones

West End Store

Martha Jones calls her local store.

West End store can't handle call.

Call forwards to..

...main store ISDN phones.

ISDN phone displays Caller ID & Call Forward ID.

...the solution allows the retailer's main location to take excess calls from it's smaller retail store and identify the source of the forwarding. Again, Call Forward ID ("West End Store") is NOT Caller ID (Martha's number). Call forward ID is additional information provided along with Caller ID. CFID makes use of the National ISDN Redirecting Number Delivery (RND) feature of ISDN BRI. Consider in detail the above retail example.

Store Management Assumptions

	Sometimes the staff of area stores arrive late or leave early.
	Each store may not have enough phone lines causing busy signals and lost business.
	Each store needs voicemail and desires uniform voicemail functionality across all stores.
	It's too costly to install expensive voicemail in each store.

Telephone System Setup

	Owner has main store that is "always open".
	"West End Store", "East End Store" & "South Side Store" operate on limited schedules.
	Stores order call forwarding from their carrier to forward unanswered or busy calls to the main location.

System Actions

	Forwarded calls ring at main office and display "West End Store", "East End Store" & "South Side Store" on all phones.
	Main location answers phone knowing source of the forwarded call. ("We are located in the West End...)
	All night calls to stores forward to that store's voice mail box at the main location.
	Main location can review mailboxes to insure each store has retrieved their overnight messages.

System Benefits to Management

	Call forward logging helps determine staffing needs as every forwarded call can be tracked.
	Main office checks store message waiting lamps to prevent unanswered store voicemails each morning.
	Area stores require fewer telephone lines as excess calls forward to main store for answer.
	Area stores eliminate telephone busy signals resulting in increased revenue for the owner.
	Main store knows source of forwarded store calls to quickly answer questions such as "Where is your store located?"
	Main store has better understanding of it's customer demographics.