Sandwiches and Call Recording

Who’s got the best Pastrami?

I was chatting with my brother-in-law the other day about our favorite places to go for lunch. At some point, the conversation turned to two large, nationwide sandwich chains that we both had the same strong opinions about.

Both of us agreed that one of the chains is almost everywhere you turn, but tastes like cardboard. The other has better bread, better cheese and better meat and is just overall MUCH BETTER TASTING… but seems to be disappearing, one store at a time.

We also agreed that the restaurant that serves splendid cardboard has friendly staff that looks clean, always has a smile and welcomes you the same way, no matter what city you are in. The deliciously tasting sandwich chain also has uniformity in their service across all cities… uniformly poor service. No smiles, messy uniforms, no friendly greeting.

We both contemplated… Maybe if the delicious sandwich chain trained their employees better initially and managed impeccable service, long-term, they wouldn’t be going out of business? Maybe…?

Back to the Point

Did you stop reading my blog and go crush a French Dip? Side note, my wife and I always argue about French Dips – I love them, but she thinks they’re gross.

Okay, back to work.

I was talking to one of our many Hosted VoIP providers yesterday and I heard something that sounded kind of cool.

Their hosted VoIP platform AUTOMATICALLY records ALL phone calls. By default, they keep the recordings for 30 days and then your company has the option to pay for all of them or a select group of them to be archived for up to 90 days.

Many service providers offer call recording as an add-on option for select users but I’ve never heard of it being the default for all users. I thought this sounded cool because any management team member from any department can, on a whim, decide to train or monitor any person at any time.

Whoa… before you get mad about privacy, let’s turn the tables.

This is how it relates to Sandwiches

Do you think the cardboard sandwich company (with great service), only trains their franchisee’s and then never stops in, (incognito), to check on whether or not their standards are being followed? Of course they do.

So how can your company expect to have incredible service without ever listening in on the phone calls?

Why is it so rare that companies record calls, just for training purposes alone? I think it can absolutely be done in a non-demeaning way and can also pay huge dividends for a company.

When clients call your company, what would they say about how someone answers the phone? Would it sound like the person is smiling on the other end?

If your company had impeccable service via the phone, do you think your clients would more satisfied? Do you think that would create a buzz about your company? Would that buzz make your company more profitable?

Do you think your management team would love the fact that you, the IT Director, told them that features like this are available?

Good! I’ve done my job for the day and armed you with some good info that will make you a more valuable member of your company’s team.

I’m not saying you can go buy this right now… some of you are obviously not in the market for a new phone system right this second but this is the kind of stuff you need to continue to store in your long-term memory for that one management meeting… when a discussion comes up about client satisfaction…

When that day comes, you know what to say. After you order sandwiches! Order a French Dip and invite me, please.

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About the Author
Mike Smith is the Founder and President of AeroCom and has been helping companies with telecom and cloud services since 1999. He has been the recipient of numerous business telecommunications industry awards and in 2011, he was honored as one of the top 40 business people in Orange County, CA., under 40 years old. Follow Mike on LinkedIn, Twitter or SpiceWorks.