David Perry
ATLANTA — Simmons has made another change in the way it serves its smaller dealers, outsourcing services


to a call center that handles a number of well-known retail companies.

The company said the new approach provides improved levels of service.

Simmons officials acknowledged the change in response to questions from Furniture/Today, which had been told by former Simmons employees that the company’s original Centralized Dealer Services structure, implemented at the first of this year, had been discontinued in favor of a new call center model.

But Jim Sharkey, who remains director of Centralized Dealer Services at Simmons, said that despite the outsourcing, the CDS structure has not been discontinued.

“The CDS model continues to evolve into a more efficient and responsive program for our independent dealers,” he said. “We have not eliminated any of the CDS services that were first communicated at the inception of the model. We have made some business decisions related to improving our responsiveness to dealers and are providing them with better tools to help them conduct their bedding business.”

Sharkey said that four weeks ago, Simmons “centralized the CDS team in one location where advanced computer and telephone systems could be applied to improve our responsiveness to dealers.” The work was outsourced because “call center operations are not our core competency,” he said.

The call center, located in the United States, is owned by T.H. Lee, Simmons’ parent. Simmons said the center serves Fortune 500 companies, including consumer goods brands.

The previous CDS team consisted of 11 Simmons employees, nine of whom have been hired for new positions at the company. The new CDS team at the call center consists of nine representatives who aren’t Simmons employees but who only handle calls for Simmons, the company said.

Sharkey said Simmons has “worked extensively with the new team to ensure that each representative understands Simmons’ relationship with dealers and can service accounts accordingly. Our responsiveness is 160% greater than before with the new team in place.”

When Simmons instituted the CDS structure at the beginning of this year — a change that resulted in the elimination of a number of sales rep positions — the company said that structure was designed to improve service to smaller dealers. Since then, Simmons officials have consistently said the new CDS structure, in which smaller dealers were serviced through telephone, e-mail and fax communications rather than by personal visits by reps, was working well.

Asked why a change was needed if the approach was working, Sharkey responded: “Simmons is always looking for ways to improve as an organization. We dedicated the April 2013 market to introducing the CDS program to our dealers, and many of our CDS accounts have seen substantial growth since that time. However, we’re not a company that is going to rest on our laurels. Our original plan for the CDS program was for it to evolve and improve over time; these recent changes take CDS to a higher service level and promote even greater growth for our dealers.”

He said the new team has access to state-of-the-art customer relationship tools that “makes it possible to service dealers much more quickly, efficiently and productively.”

The new system allows the CDS reps at the call center to respond to dealer needs via a toll-free number, e-mail or fax, Simmons said.

Sharkey also said that Simmons has streamlined its warranty process, enabling dealers to get credit for returns in a more timely fashion.

He said the only change that independent dealers should see as a result of the new call center approach is “a more responsive and nimble Simmons. The way we service them has not changed; it’s just that we’re able to do so more quickly and efficiently.”

Simmons also provided an audio testimonial from a Simmons retailer pleased with the new person handling its account. The retailer says the new representative “has been phenomenal. We get calls back right away. We cannot tell you how impressed we are.”