Select Telecom and Crown Products, a Westchester-based supplier of janitorial and packaging supplies, had a serendipitous start to their partnership. As Robert Whetsell, Director of Operations, recalls, “I was at a networking business dinner and I happened to meet Peter and Joe from Select Telecom. The timing was perfect because we were looking to replace our 12 year old phone system, so Select Telecom was one of several vendors we vetted.”
Crown Products was in the market for a new phone system that had better call routing capabilities. “The old system gave us headaches with handling customer service calls,” Robert explains. “At the time, only certain reps handled certain customers, but we wanted to be more efficient and spread out those responsibilities so that if one person was busy, another in the group would get the call. It wasn’t impossible with the old system, but it was very difficult to manage, and we didn’t control the software that handled the call routing.”
After attending some demo sessions at Select Telecom’s Valhalla showroom, Robert was convinced that a new unified communications (UC) system from ShoreTel was the solution they’d been looking for. With user-friendly software for end-users and administrators alike – in addition to sophisticated call routing capabilities – the ShoreTel system was just what Crown Products needed.
Robert was particularly impressed with the training and support his team received after the new system was installed. “Danielle and Bob – those two people made the process. Their attention to detail and willingness to help were unmatched. It’s very difficult these days to find a vendor with that kind of work ethic, and Bob and Danielle were just a fantastic team. It says a lot for them and also for Select Telecom to have that caliber of people working for them.”
In the end, the new ShoreTel system delivered exactly the results Robert had been hoping for. “The ShoreTel system has been tremendous. It’s definitely addressed the issues we had in making customer service more of a team, and since it’s so easy to use and setup, the team immediately bought in. This change also took a lot of pressure off our receptionist, allowing her to assist in more administrative duties and making our team, as a whole, more productive.” Another added benefit that Robert has come to appreciate is the ease of administration. As he explains, “One of the biggest things that made the system extremely beneficial for us is the ability to adjust on the fly. If there’s bad weather and we need to close early, the ease with which we can change the system into the proper mode, it’s just fantastic. We couldn’t do that before.”
Though Select Telecom and Crown Products may have met by chance, this is a partnership that’s geared to last long into the future. Robert sums it up best: “Usually you have great technology and an awful vendor, or a great vendor and awful technology. But in this case, you have great technology and a great vendor. I don’t want technology or a vendor that I have to constantly manage, so this marriage is such a homerun. I don’t even have to think about it; if I ever run into trouble, I make one call or send an email and I’m set. Select Telecom plus ShoreTel is my BEST vendor relationship.”