The phone is the foundation of business for Leonard Knoblock, president of Dominos Pizza franchisee Julyn, Inc., in Walpole, MA. “Our success depends on a ‘PSI’ combination: product, service and image,” he explains. “That involves taking an order quickly and accurately, and getting it delivered properly. Ninety-eight per cent of that business is done over the phone.”

So, it was painful when the last phone system continuously stopped working during peak hours. “The old system just wasn’t designed to handle the volume we subjected it to,” Knoblock says. “Come dinner time Friday, it would just freeze up. And no calls means no business.”

No wonder reliability was the number one requirement for his franchise’s new phone system. When it came time to look at alternatives, Knoblock settled on Atlantic Telephone. The professionals at Atlantic Telephone carefully evaluated his requirements and recommended a leading-edge IP phone system from Mitel Networks. “Dominos is a phone-operated business," says Knoblock, who is clearly pleased with the decision. “If the phones are down, we aren’t making money. The Mitel Networks system is the first phone system I’ve had that’s needed no support.”

In addition to reliability, Knoblock needed a system with built-in auto-attendant. He got more than he’d hoped for with the Mitel Networks 3100 Integrated Communications Platform (ICP), which also offers integrated computer networking capabilities.

“Dominos is upgrading our point-of-sale systems in the near future,” Knoblock explains. “When that comes along we’ll be able to use the Mitel Networks phone system as our network and won’t have to run new cables – we’ll just plug the computers into the back of the phones. Some franchise locations spend $3,000 to $4,000 on wiring for new computer systems. That’s a cost I won’t have.”

As for the auto-attendant, Knoblock explains, “With remote access, we can dial in to the system – say during a storm – and program temporary greetings.” But most critically, the feature improves customer service: “We’ve been able to speed up our order-taking because we record daily specials into the auto-attendant. When we answer the phone, the caller has already heard all the specials and we can more efficiently take the order.”

And that’s translating into bottom-line results. “The hardest thing to teach an employee, especially during a rush, is to remember to upsell by offering side items. Now we present bundled offers to every customer via the recorded greeting. We’ve seen an increase in our average ticket price because of this.”

The solution’s caller ID functionality also ensures employee security. “Caller ID is required by Dominos for good reason,” Knoblock says. “It lets us see if someone is calling from a landline or a cell phone. If it’s a cell phone call, we use a different process to verify the order, because some locations have had problems with delivery people being robbed by cell phone callers who say, ‘Meet me at such-and-such a location.’”

“With the Mitel Networks solution from Atlantic Telephone, we’ve got an integrated package, and we haven’t had a single minute of downtime with it,” Knoblock summarizes. Increased sales per order, improved customer satisfaction and thousands of dollars in savings: That’s quite a combo.