Call Center Opens in Westfield, N.Y.

Westfield, NY, June 1, 1997

Welch's opened a state-of-the-art call center in Westfield this week, responding to a significant increase in product sales and calls from consumers.

"Our sales have grown by 30 percent over the past three years," said Jim Callahan, director of Corporate Communications at Welch's, "and during that same time our contacts with consumers have grown even more. We wanted to be able to respond to those calls as efficiently as we could, and our new call center will enable us to do that."

The call center is being staffed by a total of seven part-time and full-time people, who, along with answering two "800" telephone numbers, will also respond to mail that consumers send. Prior to establishing the 800 number, two people handled calls and letters from consumers. The additional staff came from within and outside the company.

"Consumers call and write to us for a variety of reasons," explains Carolyn Bills, who has worked in Consumer Affairs at Welch's for 20 years. "Some call wanting to know where they can buy a particular product; others are interested in getting health and nutrition information about purple grape juice; and some want to tell us what they think about our advertising.

"Our mission goes beyond providing information, though," Bills noted. "We're actually representatives of the company and very concerned about the first impression consumers have of us. What we're really trying to do is not just get people to keep buying Welch's products, but to get them to buy more Welch's products. I feel strongly that the call center will enable us to do that."

Beyond being able to answer questions from consumers and resolve their complaints, the call center also will provide Welch's with valuable information about products and the people who use them.

"This will enhance our market research capabilities for both old and new products and, at the same time, enable us to create a database of consumers that captures their product preferences. That will let us send very targeted mailings to those consumers," Callahan noted.

The call center was established in Westfield after an eight-month test period with a company in Missouri that specializes in handling calls from consumers. An 800 number was used on a limited number of products during that time.

"We learned a lot during the test phase," said Callahan. "But in deciding whether to outsource the call center or bring it in-house, we based our decision largely on the fact that we had a lot of expertise that we could tap into right here in Welch's. Not only did we have the knowledge base," he added, "we also had people who had a lot of pride in the company and a sense of ownership. That really influenced our decision."

The new call center, which offers a toll-free number for Welch's and BAMA products, features a sophisticated new phone system and computer database system.

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