Dr. Leonard’s Healthcare Corp., which sells home healthcare products for seniors, moved into a new call center a year ago. The 15,000-sq.-ft. facility in Edison, NJ, opened in June 2009 with 131 seats and 161 employees.
But this contact center is more about letters than phone calls: It handles all mail orders and correspondence, along with call volume. What’s more, the new call center is now opening mail for parent company AmeriMark Holdings, which acquired Dr. Leonard’s in late 2007.
That efficiency was the driving force behind relocating contact centers, says Dr. Leonard’s vice president of operations Gary Porto.
AmeriMark previously had its mail operations in Cleveland, while Dr. Leonard’s opened its mail in a smaller space in Edison. The new mail-opening room in the facility “allowed us to open our mail more efficiently and take on AmeriMark’s mail volume,” Porto says.
Opening mail is a big part of AmeriMark’s business due to its senior audience. About half of its business comes in through the mail, about 35% by phone, and 15% by Internet.
The move also enabled Dr. Leonard’s to consolidate its creative and merchandising departments. “In the past, they were in separate locations, which was not ideal,” Porto says. “Now, creative, merchandising, and purchasing are in the same building.”