THE CHALLENGE

With more than 80 franchise and office locations across the United States, Boston-based MaidPro has become one of the most successful home cleaning businesses around. The company holds to a clear vision: provide high-quality, reliable service, and the customers will keep coming back.

As franchise locations opened across the United States, the company had to deal with an unforeseen problem. How do you communicate effectively with all those new locations? It was costing a fortune in long-distance for franchises to communicate with each other, and with headquarters, and maintaining their existing telecom solutions was expensive and complicated. Jeff Wechsler, MaidPros director of research and development knew there had to a phone system that could alleviate those problems, and that could give his franchisees the call handling tools they needed to operate more efficiently.

THE SOLUTION

After rolling up his sleeves and conducting a lengthy product review, Wechsler determined that TalkSwitch, a phone system specifically engineered for small, multilocation and franchise businesses, would be a perfect fit for MaidPros needs.

As a franchisor focused on helping entrepreneurs grow successful businesses, we always keep our eyes open for tools and technology that can help our franchise partners, said Wechsler. I had heard a lot about TalkSwitch in the media, and was intrigued by its potential for an operation like ours. What I saw was a solution accessible and manageable for users of varied backgrounds and technical experience and that was loaded with the call handling features a successful business needs.

MaidPro tested the system in a few locations, and when that proved successful, started rolling out the systems on a larger scale. They havent looked back.

Wechsler and MaidPro have not only been able to improve overall efficiency and reduce high overhead charges for long-distance and phone system maintenance, the TalkSwitch system has provided individual franchises with a wealth of upgradeable options and tools.

TalkSwitch is very easy to use! I love how its designed to meet the needs of small yet smart and sophisticated businesses, explains Wechsler. Its fully capable of growing with the business, can connect multiple locations, and has tremendously flexible voice over IP capabilities.

The auto attendant feature ensures that all calls are answered consistently, and customers can always get information on store hours and locations, even when the store is closed. And with remote extensions, our workers can be easily reached even when theyre on the road or at a jobsite.

According to Wechsler, another distinct TalkSwitch advantage comes from its ability to work seamlessly with both traditional phone networks as well as VoIP networks.

TalkSwitch makes moving to voice over IP very simple, he says. It was very important for us that we select a phone system that would be flexible and easy to use today and tomorrow. Some of our locations are already using VoIP, and many others are actively exploring the technology and looking at what they can do with it. Knowing that they can make that move at their own pace, and that their TalkSwitch system is ready to handle it is really comforting to them. Its one less thing to worry about. Its that attention to detail and understanding of the needs of a small business that makes TalkSwitch such a great technology partner for us.

What an impressive phone system, he continues. TalkSwitch allows our franchisee partners to quickly, easily and affordably implement a phone system that helps them achieve their No. 1 objective providing excellent service to existing and prospective clients.

THE RESULTS:

Since deploying TalkSwitch systems, MaidPro has been able to:

Eliminate the headaches that come from dealing with outdated telephone systems

Provide franchisees with a system specifically designed for use in small businesses

Improve productivity and give franchisees the phone features they need to provide excellent customer service

Provide a smooth migration path to VoIP

Ensure that all calls are answered quickly and consistently by using the auto attendant

Improve overall communication efficiency between headquarters and franchise partners