Profile on Plow & Hearth--Reaping What You Sow (2,623 words)

Only the best, most experienced agents were able to work with the primitive system. That meant that during the busy holiday season, the 300 to 400 seasonal workers the company hired couldn't take advantage of either the phone specials or item-specific programs.

During these busy times, the company suspended its successful phone specials program. Explains Hay, "The rationale was that we would forgo these extra sales to cut down on the extra talk time to allow agents to take more orders, be more efficient and keep our service levels high."