About our client
General Pool & Spa is a wholesale distributor of swimming pool and spa supplies. Located in northern California, GP&S sells their products and services nationwide.
The challenge: efficiently distribute a tidal wave of inbound calls
As an executive heading a booming mid-size pool and spa business, Joe Ragan, chief operating officer for General Pool & Spa, was drowning in sales calls. Ragan knew something had to give if his team was to keep up with the tidal wave of incoming sales phone calls and keep ahead of customer service requests.
“Frankly, last year we couldn’t keep up with the amount of incoming phone calls we were getting,” said Ragan. “When our sales people were busy on the phone at one of our offices, there wasn’t anyone else to catch the roll-over calls. At the same time, we had people sitting idle at a different location. That’s just not good business. Rather than hire additional sales people for the busy location or physically move people, we turned our sights to technology.”
After researching various technology options, this leading northern California pool and spa provider turned to SOS to integrate IP Telephony into its customer service center.
The solution: IP telephony creates 'one big office' over many, many miles
Through consultation with SOS, Ragan saw that valuable sales calls could be captured through an IP Telephony solution which would allow them to have, in effect, one big office over many, many miles. This system would catch the roll-overs and automatically look for the next available sales person.
Traditionally, GP&S had to man the phone system from a location. With the SOS solution, they don’t care where the customer service reps are and can utilize at-home reps from a different region.
“What was exciting for me was that this IP Telephony implementation easily paid for itself within 12 months,” said Ragan. He added that part of the justification for diving into this project was the opening of a new office for GP&S, without having to hire 2-3 new customer service reps. “We literally redeploy our existing group without moving the customer service reps anywhere. GP&S was able to grow and not add labor to the growth.
By converging voice, data and business processes into one system, GP&S has optimized its customer service performance, retained profitable customers and captured revenue opportunities that may have slipped between the cracks before. Plus, GP&S plans to use the converged system to up-sell, cross-sell, and personalize services for recurring revenue opportunities.
The solution SOS recommended to GP&S utilizes the Cisco AVVID solution (Architecture for Voice Video and Integrated Data) which provides a comprehensive solution including an IP telephone system, automated attendant, Unified Messaging, IP Contact Center, and high speed data network. The new system leverages the business processes already in place and adds key functionality required to leverage all of GP&S’s customer service team. This single phone system practically manages itself, ensures enhanced customer service, saves GP&S money, and eliminated the company’s reliance on various systems integrators.
“SOS stood out from the pack with their no-nonsense, honest solution,” said Ragan. “They were the only ones who had the right solution and sound advice – period.”
Want to talk with an IP telephony expert at SOS?
Please call us at 1.888.336.7671.
About SOS
SOS, the leading provider of integrated advanced communications solutions for midsize and small businesses, supplies voice, data, and telephony management services that enable organizations to simplify communications, enhance productivity, and leverage real-time business intelligence. Often deployed over a single Internet Protocol platform, SOS’s solutions bridge the gap between legacy phone/data services and sophisticated telephony systems.
SOS’s ability to execute flexible and dynamic solutions around a common management process and to address the complete communications business challenge, which enable organizations to positively impact the bottom line of each of their business units, reduce costs, and deliver improved service to their end users. SOS is headquartered in Rocklin, California with sales offices in the northwest. For more information, visit our website at www.team-sos.com or call 1.888.336.7671.
