Pizza IVR Telephone Orders

[avigopinath]

Hi,

Interesting thread. I represent 800 PBX and I couldn't restrain from adding my 2 cents.

Our IVR is not looking to 'replace' human agents but we are confident that it can certainly minimize the wait time and help bring in more revenue.


1- Wait time. "Please wait. All our representatives are busy assisting other customers. If you would like to use our automated processing system, please say "automated order" or press 1 and get additional 5% off or free extra cheese on the order."

I would prefer automated system rather than waiting 2-3 mins to reach an agent.

Remember the peak load times when customers were waiting? Are agents always reliable? Shouldn't we have some backup for taking orders. Younger generation love automation. If an IVR is designed properly, its an advantage.

2- Repeat orders. Many customers repeat orders and the caller need not wait till he reaches the agent. Our IVR system would say "Welcome back, Steve (people love hearing their names). I see that you have placed an order with us before - bread sticks, large pizza with mushroom etc. and diet coke. Should I order you the same again?" If yes, we can even ask "I have your old credit card on file. The card number ends with .." Do you want me to use the same credit card? I need the security (cvv2) code.


This filters out 40% of the orders. And no one would mind answering yes, no questions.


3- International population. Spanish customers prefer speaking with someone in spanish. Same with Chinese and Indians. IVR can offer the localized menu and take the order automatically. HUGE advantage compared to your competition.


4- Cross selling. Is the agent trained on cross selling combos (upsell)? Does he/she has the time to go over the options when there is a influx of calls.

5- Throughput. Can your telephony system handle calls if there is huge traffic of incoming calls?

6- Real time status. "Hi Steve, thanks for your order. It has been dispatched and should be at your door within next 5 mins." this can be integrated with the text alerts.

7- Reminders, alerts, coupons distribution can all be done easily.

8- Names & addresses - we get few through the phone number directly and this saves lot of hassle to say the name and addresses. Of course, the caller can also say something different. It can take addresses (street names, apt nums automatically based on zipcode) and even bill the customers on their credit card using your merchant card provider.

How many people use self checkout in the malls? Why do they do so? Isn't it more laborious? Does it violate good customer service?

Pete-zza >> Thats customizable. You can order more than one pizza with different toppings.

November  >>
Thats customizable as well.

petef

- Everything is speech driven.

Essen1  

>> Its the system which takes credit card and even bills the customer It can be tied up with your POS.


I am open to any feedback.

Thank you, guys!

Hi 800PBX,

I have checked your system and that was pretty much everything I was looking for.
Looks satisfactory however some improvization is required

-- Av

[pbx800]

Hi - i m glad you liked it. Let me pm me for more feedback.

The direct demonstration is now available at xxxxxxx. Our current licensing agreements with address lookups do not allow us to show full functionality in the demo number. Please pm me if you are looking for more information.

The service will be lauched at expo 2009. Please let me know someone is attending. Thanks.

[Bill/SFNM]

I'm going to put the cabash on this thread until avignopinath explains why the email address he used to register on this board corresponds to the company selling the IVR software. Please PM me if there is some innocent explanation.

[Bill/SFNM]

I will reopen this thread. Av now says he is a consultant for 800 PBX and meant no harm or deception. I will leave it to the membership to draw their own conclusions about messages like this one:

Hi 800PBX,

I have checked your system and that was pretty much everything I was looking for.
Looks satisfactory however some improvization is required

-- Av

[sourdough girl]

I will reopen this thread. Av now says he is a consultant for 800 PBX and meant no harm or deception. I will leave it to the membership to draw their own conclusions about messages like this one:

Thanks, Bill
I found those last posts somewhat confusing given Av's initial post.

Have you been outside of the first world countries much?  You don't think the example works only because you have become acclimated to it in our modern culture.  People in third world countries would try to make the same argument you just have, but even include menus in that argument.  Not only do some regions of the world not have menus, but many don't even have set prices because they expect you to negotiate the price.  Translation: They expect you to interact with them more than you would here in the United States.  Go back even further in time or deeper into certain indigenous cultures and you don't have restaurants at all.  A restaurant in some cultures would be too formal.  Translation: They prize the human experience of eating together more than the exchange of goods or services.

It's called business.  If you want something more human than business, you shouldn't live in the midst of capitalism.

- red.november

november,
Your arguments are not germane to this topic.  This thread is not about third world countries and the human interactions therein.  It is about THIS country and our further disconnect from our fellow humans.  And, it's certainly not about sweatshops in China.

I prefer the human touch and you yourself have said you dislike IVR systems as well, ("the phone line should just be staffed by a human when the website doesn't have what the customer is looking for. - red.november") so that should end the discussion, at least between you and me.

 

~sd

[November]

Your arguments are not germane to this topic.

You indeed missed the point.  Menus are a present-day-primative form of first-step order automation.  When and where adopted business productivity has increased because it allows the server to focus on serving more customers, rather than memorizing product offerings and spending a lot of extra time with each customer.  In fact, IVR systems have more in common with order taking before printed menus came along.  IVRs are a step backwards in the progress of order taking systems.  In the case of pizza ordering though, I don't hold human interaction to be of much higher quality than IVRs.  It's still a royal pain to figure out some of the simplest things, like What toppings do you have?  What are your specials?  Do you still sell the {insert signature pizza here}?  Invariably I get a response of, "Hold on just a minute while I find out."  In an instant I can have those questions answered by looking at a website, and as a bonus I can ensure the order is entered properly.

[jeff v]

I will reopen this thread. Av now says he is a consultant for 800 PBX and meant no harm or deception. I will leave it to the membership to draw their own conclusions about messages like this one:

  Indeed.

[Steve]

Yeah, somehow I get the feeling that this topic is an infomercial with [paid] satisfied "customers" singing its praises.

[Essen1]

The error prone human in your example just made the case for removing as many minimum wage error prone humans as possible from the ordering experience.  Restaurants who have people that both take orders and cook the food are rare for a reason: division of labor improves performance and proficiency.  So that error prone human you have making the mistakes in the preparation of food now gets to try his hand at taking orders and make mistakes there too.  How is that better?  In your ordering model he has twice as much to do, so twice as much to forget.  People who don't work in the fast food industry don't seem to realize what it takes to be fast.  Other industries pay more, and therefore acquire more skilled labor, which per chance might include someone skilled enough to accomplish order taking and food preparation at the same time without making mistakes, but it still won't be fast.

However, if you want to downgrade the contribution a human order taker makes by giving him fool-proof tools such as an automated, and possibly even scripted POS, what is ultimately your point?  How is a human employee pressing buttons on a machine like a robot any better than the person giving the order pressing buttons on a machine?  I think you know the answer is that it isn't because the human isn't really the order taker anyway.  The machine is.  The human is just a fuzzy information layer that can answer questions if posed, maybe.  Again, customer service will never be outmoded.  It can coexist with an automated ordering system.  Arbitrarily adding a human in the ordering process just for the sake of human interaction is just sad.  If people are that desperate for human interaction, they should join a lodge or attend more community events.  You know, where people have fun without cash registers.

- red.november

Sorry for taking my sweet time to respond but I had two hectic days at work.


I have a feeling that you missed the point, Bro.

We're not talking a human pressing buttons here, nor menus, nor one person doing all the work, from taking orders to cooking and delivering the food to the table. We're simply talking about a machine, a computer or robot, if you will, taking the order whatever that might be and the disconnect of human interaction. If, and I say this with a huge emphasis on the "if" part, you want to replace all those "error prone" minimum wage workers, where are they going to go? I tell you where,... to the next available unemployment office. And we're talking hundreds of thousands not just a few. And who's going to pay for their unemployment? You. And I. And the rest of the country.

I don't think that is what good old Johannes had in mind when he invented the mechanical printing press. Do you? I can also sense a feeling, given some of the responses from the members here, that a completely automated system is already been disliked.

I don't think there's anything more substantial to good customer service than the human interaction. Why some companies would want to change that, baffles me.

[David]

I much prefer talking to an educated human with a mid-atlantic accent in Mumbai than a machine down the road.

[November]

I was trying to explain what visual menus, and for that matter what clothing catalogs, street billboards, television ads, and commercial websites all represent: pre-educating the consumer so that businesses don't have to spend a lot of money on personalized hand-holding, product demonstrations, and the like.  Those things would require human interaction (notably door-to-door salesmen in some cases) if not preempted by the aforementioned visual mediums.  My point was that you have come to accept those things (menus, catalogs, commercial websites, etc.) in our modern culture even though without them you would have the extra human interaction you desire.  You can dismiss the example all you want, but the point remains quite valid within the scope of global business evolution.  Businesses empower consumers through product knowledge and direct order access in an effort to save money; but empowerment also has the effect of allowing for more completely (and unpressured) thought-out buying decisions and operational transparency which tend to reduce complaints in the long run.  Customers now have fewer opportunities to claim "I didn't get what I wanted."

I have a feeling that you missed the point, Bro.

How could I have missed it?  Your only point has been to talk about the reduction of human interaction in business, and obviously neither of us has been talking about anything else.  Did you have another point?  If so please state it emphatically.

If, and I say this with a huge emphasis on the "if" part, you want to replace all those "error prone" minimum wage workers, where are they going to go? I tell you where,... to the next available unemployment office. And we're talking hundreds of thousands not just a few. And who's going to pay for their unemployment? You. And I. And the rest of the country. [...] Why some companies would want to change that, baffles me.

I'm afraid you have a very naive view of business evolution and social progress.  Where did all the telegraph editors go?  Where did all the check writers go?  Where did all the cobblers go?  Where did all the soda jerks go?  Where did all the elevator attendants go?  Where did all the milkmen go?  Where did all the travel agents go?  Where did all the switchboard operators go?  These are all jobs that have been taken over by machines or machine-based automation over the years.  Are you in grievance for all these workers too or do you simply acknowledge that in replacing them, society has moved forward and they have moved on to other jobs?  Declaring that "I won't do business" with a pizza joint if they don't want a human to take my order makes as much (or as little) sense as "I won't do business" with Coca-Cola because they expect me to tell a vending machine that I want a soda.  With that kind of attitude, you're going to run out of things to buy in this country.

[November]

I don't think there's anything more substantial to good customer service than the human interaction.

Yes, but that's just a self-evident statement.  There's nothing more substantial to ordering than getting what you ordered.  That's just good business.

[Essen1]

RN,

It is clear to me, that you and I come from different directions.

I'm a business guy, you're a science guy. Naturally, we think differently. But insulting my intelligence goes a little too far.

I'm afraid you have a very naive view of business evolution and social progress.

I'm thankful for all the help and info you have provided me with during the re-building of the LBE. It has dawned on me, though, that you must have forgotten that you are dealing with regular folks here on this board, and not with people you are used to.

But don't you dare and call me a naive, and basically stupid, businessman. Did I make myself clear ?!

[November]

Mike,

Naive and stupid do not have the same meanings.  Naive generally means innocent thinking.  I did not call you stupid, and twisting my words around instead of confronting the facts doesn't help anyone, least of all yourself.  FYI, I have worked for Fortune 500 companies and I own a business now.  I certainly have a great deal of business experience to draw upon.

- red.november

[petef]

I will reopen this thread. Av now says he is a consultant for 800 PBX and meant no harm or deception. I will leave it to the membership to draw their own conclusions about messages like this one:

Yeah, thanks for pointing that out.
Regardless of the intentions of the original post, this has been an interesting thread.
It contains some valuable information for anyone considering using an automated
ordering system for pizza. If anything, it alerts all pizza operators of the possibility
of LOSING BUSINESS if adopting an automated ordering system if it is not very
carefully designed.

---pete---

[petef]

  Declaring that "I won't do business" with a pizza joint if they don't want a human to take my order makes as much (or as little) sense as "I won't do business" with Coca-Cola because they expect me to tell a vending machine that I want a soda.  With that kind of attitude, you're going to run out of things to buy in this country.

Another point to consider is from the business owner's point of view. I operate a home
based business and rely upon an automated answering system to take calls of potential
customers and my regular customers while I'm out on service calls. I have found that
customers who use my automated system to either obtain info about my fees and
services or to leave a message about their problem, are generally my best customers
and enjoyable to work with. I'm perfectly comfortable with passing up on customers
who will not talk to my machine. If I had to hire a full time human answering service,
I'd need to raise my rates. I' d rather offer low rates for my good customers than
try to satisfy everyone and have to raise my rates.

In other words, an automated system could posssibly serve to filter out difficult
customers. It all depends upon how selective you want to be for your particular
business. If you make the best pizza on the east coast, I think you can fully
automate your ordering process and the customers will adapt to it, but if you
are just the average pizza shop, I doubt that you could afford to lose any
customers by adopting a fully automated ordering system.

---pete---

[sourdough girl]

Another point to consider is from the business owner's point of view. I operate a home
based business and rely upon an automated answering system to take calls of potential
customers and my regular customers while I'm out on service calls. I have found that
customers who use my automated system to either obtain info about my fees and
services or to leave a message about their problem, are generally my best customers
and enjoyable to work with. I'm perfectly comfortable with passing up on customers
who will not talk to my machine. If I had to hire a full time human answering service,
I'd need to raise my rates. I' d rather offer low rates for my good customers than
try to satisfy everyone and have to raise my rates.

In other words, an automated system could posssibly serve to filter out difficult
customers. It all depends upon how selective you want to be for your particular
business. If you make the best pizza on the east coast, I think you can fully
automate your ordering process and the customers will adapt to it, but if you
are just the average pizza shop, I doubt that you could afford to lose any
customers by adopting a fully automated ordering system.

---pete---

I'm certainly glad to hear that you have enough business so that you are comfortable losing potential customers.
I also think that it's sad that you would label me "difficult" just because I would rather speak to you than a machine.
You own a "service" business?  Seems it's service on your terms, not your customers.... which, I have found after years in a full-service deli (where we took MANY phone orders each day), generally makes for poor customer service.

Mike,
I think you should give up trying to get red.november to admit that he understands the point because, in reality, he does understand it.  JMHO.

~sd aka mots

[Pizza_Not_War]

I'm certainly glad to hear that you have enough business so that you are comfortable losing potential customers.
I also think that it's sad that you would label me "difficult" just because I would rather speak to you than a machine.
You own a "service" business?  Seems it's service on your terms, not your customers.... which, I have found after years in a full-service deli (where we took MANY phone orders each day), generally makes for poor customer service.

SDG,

LOL - good comments. I have had people call me back from service businesses 6 months later which I always assumed meant they had no business at the moment and deemed me a worthy customer now. Just happened recently with a WFO builder.

In my past businesses I considered it a failure if I did not get back to customers within a few minutes and only used an answering machine during off hours! Customers were turned away only if they did not want to pay the going rate for services.

PNW

[sourdough girl]

Thanks PNW

I've never understood why any service business owner would willingly... and happily!... say they don't need more customers!  The customer base that a business owner has may, at any time, evaporate due to lost jobs, moving away and other forms of attrition.  Unless you sell absolute necessities (food, electricity, water etc) your business is not immune to the down-turning economy.  When jobs are lost, people drag out the vacuum cleaner or rent rug doctors rather than call the carpet cleaning company.  Off hours?  Understandable, but installing a system so that you don't have to talk to your customers (who are your boss and your life-blood) during business hours makes no sense to me.

I pick and choose with whom I will do business.  If there's an IVR installed, I move on to the next entry in the yellow pages.  If a business owner lacks a desire to speak to his customers, it gives me the impression his customer service must be lacking as well.

~sd

[Essen1]

RN,

We both have obviously a different interpretation of the term "naive".

However, just because you and I disagree on a certain subject or issue is no reason to disrespect me, nor to suggest I'm not familiar with the evolution of business or business matters in general. I hold a Business Management degree and finished top of my class, just so you know. I'm not an idiot when it comes to business matters. 

I'm always up for a good and healthy discussion on a topic, but it's a waste of time if you feel that you have to 'win' an argument at all costs, by resorting to insults. A man of and with your intellect and education should know better.

I really don't care which companies you've worked for, whether they were in the top 500 or in the low 20's, I just don't like your condescending attitude you display on occasion.

With that said, I hope your current business will flourish, with or without an IVR.