Biscuits & Bath Pet Care Service Streamlines Customer Service and Increases Revenue Thanks to M5 Networks Hosted VoIP Service

NEW YORK, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ — Biscuits & Bath is dedicated to bringing a luxurious, healthy country life to the dogs of New York City. Over the past 19 years they have built a thriving multi-office business and a solid reputation by providing the best care possible for their clients’ beloved canine family members. But with success came some problems that hindered their ability to grow the business. Biscuits & Bath chose M5 Networks to provide the solution.

As a service based business, providing superior customer service to ensure client satisfaction is vital to Biscuits & Bath’s success. Busy pet owners don’t have time or patience to wait on hold for a customer service rep, but Biscuits & Bath’s call volume had exceeded the capabilities of their old phone system. In fact, its limitations were hurting the business.

Customer Care agents, who needed to focus on revenue-generating client calls, were diverted by calls from vendors, solicitations and company employees. The company needed a phone system that could filter and route calls intelligently. The phone system also had to handle unpredictable spikes in call traffic to ensure that crucial client calls were always answered. And Biscuits & Bath’s management team wanted to link the phone system into their customized customer relationship management (CRM) system, PetShop, so Customer Care agents could better respond to client requests in real time. M5′s hosted VoIP telephony system quickly and easily accommodated all of these needs.

“It was a hard decision to make a capital investment in a telephone system in this economic climate,” said Scott Smith, CEO of Biscuits & Bath. “But I can say without a doubt that M5 has made a dramatic impact on our ability to sell and service clients, and staff our organization. We saw our sales increase in the first three or four days using the new M5 system.”

M5 designed a simple but effective call flow routing mechanism that greets all callers with a professionally recorded welcome message inviting clients to simply stay on the line while the call is routed to a queue for a Customer Care agent. Other callers are directed to press 1, which routes them to an automated attendant.

“We thought a lot about who Biscuits and Bath’s clients are, about when and how they’re likely to call, and we imagined they’d most often be calling with a mobile phone in one hand and a dog on the other,” said Brent Barbara – Director of Client Solutions. “This may seem like a small thing, but it’s a pain to enter numbers on your iPhone or Blackberry during a call, especially if both hands are busy. So we eliminated this pain to enhance the client experience right from the start.”

The call routing ensures that revenue generating client calls are given priority. It also automatically captures and collects call metrics that measure call volumes, wait times, call duration, abandoned calls, and other vital real time data. This data enabled M5 to make adjustments to the call center routing to minimize call waiting times and automatically re-direct client calls to other offices when call volumes spike beyond the main office call center’s capacity. Biscuits & Bath’s management now uses these metrics every day to more effectively staff their phones and run their business.

Biscuits & Bath also chose M5 because integrating their phone system with their PetShop CRM system was a top priority for gaining a competitive edge through superior personalized client service. M5Connect made the integration fast and seamless.

“With the integrated phone and CRM systems, we can route our top clients to our high impact Customer care agents, and all of our agents know instantly who is on the line when a call comes in,” explained Smith. “Customized screen pops show the client’s name, pet’s name and details and full client history record. So our staff can answer the phone ‘Good morning Mrs. Anderson, how’s Fifi today? And how was your vacation?’ providing a personal touch that really sets our customer service apart.”

The integration also makes Biscuits & Bath staff much more productive. Customer care agents can make more outbound calls and answer inbound calls with a single click through PetShop, saving as much as half a minute or more per call, so agents can easily handle 60 or more calls a day. The increased productivity improves service while reducing staffing requirements. Plus, agents can spend more time on the phone with individual clients building the relationship — and selling more services.

“The combination of the M5 Call Center and the M5Connect integration with PetShop has positively changed the way we conduct our business,” Smith concluded. “In just days after going live with M5 we saw sales improve. Now, after only eight weeks with the new system in place, we’ve measured a full 25% increase in sales. Our sales team has never been happier, and our clients are enjoying high touch personalized service that they love.”

About M5 Networks:

M5 Networks provides Voice-over-IP managed phone systems delivered as a disaster-proof service. M5′s delivery model facilitates the rapid deployment of advanced phone system functionality and features that drive a consistent voice experience as businesses elevate service levels and employees become increasingly dispersed. M5′s pay-per-profile pricing model offers companies a low cost-of-entry to feature sets that traditionally have required large capital expenditure and dedicated IT resources. By leveraging M5′s network infrastructure, customers have a voice platform that frees all voice-related data and commands to mash with other applications. The result is a competitive edge for driving business intelligence, improving customer service, and enhancing enterprise application effectiveness. M5 has numerous industry awards and recognitions and is headquartered in New York City. To learn more about M5, visit www.m5net.com.

About Biscuits & Bath:

Biscuits & Bath was founded in 1990 with the belief that dogs deserve the best care possible. Dedicated to bringing a luxurious country life to the dogs of New York City, Biscuits & Bath has multiple locations in Manhattan and offers a myriad of services for dogs including: off-leash day care, cage-free 24-hour supervised care, grooming, dog walking, transportation, training, vet care and adoption. To learn more about Biscuits & Bath, visit www.biscuitsandbath.com.

SOURCE M5 Networks