Phone systems are the lifeline of most pizzerias. For those who conduct most or all of their business via take out and delivery, the phone is the direct and sometimes only connection with customers. If you're one of those businesses, you need to ensure your phone system is not just working but working for you.

Are you wasting money through excess lines? You may have broken or poor quality lines that you are not aware of? Do you know if you are over-staffed or under-staffed during different times of the day? How much time is wasted while your delivery drivers try to find customers or wait for customers to provide payment? How often do customers call you to check when their delivery will arrive?

A standard phone system is not going to help you understand these issues or find solutions to your problems. You need communications system that helps you manage the entire customer ordering experience; one that can generate the business data you need to implement the right operational changes.

The right phone system doesn't have to be expensive. In fact, if you've recently upgraded it's possible your existing set up already has what you need. Either way, to optimize your business you need to ensure you are utilizing certain key technologies including auto-attendant, call reporting, call recording, whisper training, VoIP and PSTN (Hybrid) support, automated customer call back and remote management.

With these features in place, here are some of the things you should look to implement:

• Review call duration: Are staff spending too much or too little time on the phone? Do they need training to reduce call duration while still upselling?
• Review incoming call times: Know the precise start and finish of peak and off-peak times: hour-to-hour, day-to-day, week-to-week, public holidays, vacation times, and more.
• Review line usage: Are you wasting money on excess lines or losing business by busying out with too few lines? What about line quality? You may not be aware of broken or poor lines.
• Use VoIP and traditional phone lines: Get the cost savings of a VoIP system, and line bursting while enjoying the added reliability of traditional phone lines.
• Implement the call back feature: Let customers know when their pizza has been delivered. Have the customer waiting at the door with the money and move your delivery staff quickly to the next customer.
• Implement remote management and support: Slash tech support time and costs by enabling fleet management so you can login remotely to manage, diagnose and fix issues across all stores at once.

Getting the most out of your phone system will help you get the most out of your business. If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch.

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