On Technology
We had a fun day today at Zerorez® Boise- we learned a little about technology. I've started to feel like some of our customers, that the older I get, the faster technology changes us, and how easy it is to get left behind. I talked to a wonderful, sweet, 90 year old lady today, who laughingly told me that she doesn't have the patience to learn about that "email thing." There are two interesting things about that last statement- the first being, and this is the fun part, that I got to talk to her today. She was the first person to call (208) 383-1000 and talk to me, personally. That may sound strange, seeing as we've been cleaning carpets in Boise for almost 3 years now. But today was the first time our local number has actually stayed here in Boise.
For the last several years, our calls have been routed to the call center of the Minneapolis, MN Zerorez franchise, where they have taken excellent care of us, and have helped us grow by leaps and bounds. We made the decision to have "Minneapolis," as we've so fondly called our wonderful team there, take our calls because they had the staff, the time, and the experience to take our calls. This helped us keep our costs down, especially in the beginning, and gave you, our customers, a great service. I'd like to thank everyone over there for these last few years. They have been wonderful!
That being said, we have, for a while now, been needing to keep our customers closer to home. It has been awkward and cumbersome to not have the calls come here in house. I still remember the day we moved into our shop- prior to that we had our vans parked in a small garage (there was literally just enough room to walk around the vans), and did our technician training meetings standing in a 4 foot by 4 foot by… whatever the hypotenuse of that kind of triangle is. It was amazing to have space! and an actual office that was heated in the winter. What a change! We've since grown to the point where we just barely have the room to walk around anymore, and now with the phones coming into the office, it, too, has gotten quite a bit smaller!
Well, growth is a good part of life, and though these last few days have been pretty stressful, we are really excited to learn and to grow. We are using a VoIP system, meaning our phones actually run over the internet, There are several advantages to this- we can be anywhere, can move easily, and we can track our calls and learn how we can improve our services to you, our customers, better. That said, it would have been really funny to be an outsider watching Amy and I try to figure out how to turn the phone "on" this morning. It took us half an hour to figure out how to place a call! I've never felt so much like an adult in the 80's staring at that blasted VCR clock… But by the end of the day, things were running pretty smoothly. I think we really only missed one or two calls and only triple called people… well… we won't talk about that!
It got me thinking though, while I was having a hard time understanding why we chose to go the route we did- instead of using a traditional land line system, we chose to go with something far more complicated. We are guinea pigs for Zerorez Corporate for a bit, helping them develop their new software, but it would be a lot easier to let someone else be the test case (just so everyone knows, some of our calls will be routed to Salt Lake- they can help us get to you all faster, and we can help them learn how to make the software work, win-win!). Anyway, it got me thinking why do we put so much into things? I just wanted a phone! I was reminded later though, how much technology has changed and improved our lives. Indoor plumbing and electricity are high on my lists of things I like. It was driven home even more later today (actually as I was writing draft 2 of this blog) that people resist things that truly can make their lives better because it threatens them and their insecurities in some way. I read a blog for carpet cleaners where another carpet cleaner chose to spread bad information about our patented Zr™ Water. It doesn't really matter what he said, but the information was wrong, plain wrong, and it has been proven that way by entities such as the EPA, FDA, and DOA, as well as many other NGO's. Zr™ Water is not something that is exclusive to Zerorez- well it is when it comes to professionally cleaning every surface in your home or office! but many industries, particularly the agriculture, medical, and food industries have been using Zr™ Water for years to clean, and even disinfect their tools and facilities. Even giants such as Coke use the same technology to clean their equipment. It's old tech! But when it comes to carpet cleaning, or upholstery cleaning, or tile and grout cleaning, Zerorez is definitely THE pioneer.
Traditional cleaning systems rely on soaps and detergents, which are cheap and easy to use, to clean surfaces. We use Zr™ Water, which is easy to use, but unfortunately not cheap, especially since we have to carry it around everywhere. But the results are worth it to us-Zr™ Water is one awesome cleaner! And that it doesn't smell or leave any sticky residues, absolutely makes it my favorite thing to clean with. But why do other, more traditional cleaners have to talk badly about things they really don't understand? I think that's it- they don't understand how water, just water, can clean so well, and make such an impact.
I am blessed to have been with Zerorez since some of the early days (almost 10 years now), and love that we belong to a group that treasures and prizes innovation, cooperation, and improvement. Every Zerorez franchise has a great culture of service, of wanting to truly help people out. We help you, our customers, by giving you a true clean, and by treating you right. We help each other by sharing information, by freely giving our time to help each other help you. It feels great to belong to such an awesome and dynamic, selfless group of individuals. We all constantly strive to improve our products and services to help you, and it is our commitment to keep up with the ever changing technologies that will help you have the absolute best services and products available!
