RingCentral Online Blog

Truffle Farmers use RingCentral to Help Manage Their Business

RingCentral Online spoke with NYC-based Aron Ponticelli of Piedmont Valley Truffles about how RingCentral helps him manage a business half-way across the country, in North Carolina.

Why RingCentral?

AP: I think RingCentral is tremendous. I was partial to RingCentral because of the Inc. Magazine review [June 2006] that I read, but when I called, that's what got me. The customer service at RingCentral is just tremendous, you'd be surprised at how rude some of the other vendors are. RingCentral set up the service for me and showed me all the tools: for example, the Call Controller that pops up on my laptop when the phone rings, how I can check voicemails on the Web...I mean all of that is great for us because it gives our business the flexibility we need.

We hear that a lot.

AP: I'm between North Carolina and New York a few times a month, and I really see RingCentral as one of my primary tools, along with my Blackberry and my laptop.

Because you're in New York City and your business partner/father is in North Carolina, it must be challenging to manage your business affairs.

AP: Yes. What I like is that RingCentral keeps a detailed Call Log. We're both on the road a bit. I'm a little more organized, but sometimes my father is out in the field or on the road and he loses people's phone numbers or the numbers get lost in his cell phone and he loses voicemails. This way, we can both keep track of calls. We get email alerts of new voicemails; I get them on my Blackberry. And I can see calls coming in, and seeing calls come in is something I really like because truffles are not my full-time job yet; I have another full-time job.

So separating all these aspects of your life is critical for you.

AP: Yes, having the ability to see calls coming in for Piedmont Valley Truffles is great so I know how to handle the calls appropriately.

You're also setting up a truffle distribution organization with the other farmers, and you plan to sell on the Web with your RingCentral toll free number.

AP: There are a lot of small growers now, with between ½-acre to 3 acres of trees, and they're going to sell their truffles to the local restaurants so the market is going to get saturated - then they'll look for someone to sell their truffles outside of that area. What we're going to do is set up a consortium or a co-op and sell the truffles for them. The way I see it, why give your profits to a middle man? The farmers always get paid the least amount of money, and there's no reason we can't run the demand side of the business as well. Chefs and restaurants in New York City are just the beginning. I'll sell on the Web, and obviously the toll free number from RingCentral is going to become more important there. It's where your higher margins are made because you're selling wholesale - about $800 a pound wholesale. That's where the money is made.

How will RingCentral help you manage all of this?

AP: It takes about three to four years to cultivate truffles and we expect an influx of calls during the next truffle season, December through March. As a way for us to manage things, we have the option to not take some of those calls and let them go to voicemail, which will be emailed to us. We can then look at the Call Log to see who called and when the calls came in. I have calls ring to my home and my cell and wherever else I may be. Also, I will have all of my truffle business calls and faxes centralized. I don't want calls going to my cell phone's voicemail or a different business email because I don't want them co-mingled with my other calls. It also allows me to make sure that other employees in the company are following up with important callers.

Your employees will also use RingCentral?

AP: We have a lot of farm workers we need to contact, and we will have a customer service department. And I really see that as we expand, RingCentral will be growing with us. I would like to build a sales team, who will be traveling around, and I know I'm going to be traveling all over, so to be able to manage that process is great.

I didn't realize truffles were being cultivated in North Carolina. Typically, this is not a product produced in the US.

AP: We're really finding that where grapes for wine can be cultivated pretty successfully is where black truffles can be as well. There's been a lot of success in cultivating truffles in the mid-Atlantic states on both sides of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which has an agreeable "terroir": the soil, sunshine, wind factors, etc. North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee share similar attributes to southern France and northern Italy.

How do you cultivate and harvest truffles?

AP: We bought seedlings inoculated with Tuber melanosporum, the Perigord truffle, from our partner Franklin Garland who was the first to bring inoculated seedlings to the US. He bought the process from the French in the early 1980s. You're taking either oak or hazelnut trees about a couple of weeks old and essentially you're

CompuMed Relies on RingCentral Fax for Vital Medical Records

icalRingCentral Online spoke with David Antosh of Los Angeles-based CompuMed, a medical technology company that employs RingCentral's online fax component for their laboratory services.

What is CompuMed?

DA: We are a technology company dedicated to providing top remote cardiovascular services, and we are dramatically expanding the osteoporotic preventative screening process.

How do you use RingCentral?

DA: We provide our RingCentral number to clients all across the nation to relay vital medical information for remote cardiology services. We are especially pleased with RingCentral’s fax-to-email service so critical medical documents can make it to our email system with the same clarity as it started.

Why did you choose RingCentral?

DA: We’ve had RingCentral for some time now, but saw the great benefits of utilizing the services for our laboratory services.

What were your using before RingCentral?

DA: We were using your average fax machines then scanning to a PC to transfer documents, but if no one was in the Lab we couldn’t get the documentation!

How has RingCentral improved your situation?

DA: It has given us the ability to receive important emergency echocardiograms right to our email inbox even when we are not physically at a fax machine. The Fax-to-email is our primary use now, and it is well worth it.

NYC Veterinary Specialists uses RingCentral to Increase Visits

RingCental Online spoke with Dave Grisowitz, Hospital Administrator of the New York City Veterinary Specialists, a 24-hour emergency hospital for pets.

Your RingCentral account is set up so that veterinarians connect to your facility for after-hour emergencies, thereby making their clients your clients. How many clinics are on your account and from a business perspective, how does it benefit you?

DG: We have 15 clinics signed up now and we're signing up more every week. If a clinic has a 10,000 person caseload, and on any given week somebody has an emergency, we, of course, want that emergency to come to us rather than to another emergency hospital...Of course, from a business perspective it's great for us to get the business.

So veterinary clinics point after-hours calls to their RingCentral number, and you get the calls. Can you tell us how you've set up your system?

DG: What we've done is we've set up RingCentral where we're a master account with sub-accounts  [the veterinary clinics]. We've assigned the sub-accounts with their own number, generally a toll-free number. In an emergency, the first thing people will do is call their Vet, and of course their Vet is closed, but what plays is a customized message that'll say "Thank you for calling ABC Animal Hospital, we're closed, if this is an emergency please press 1 and you'll be connected to NYC Veterinary Specialists." And they connect to us, and that's our benefit.

What makes this interesting for your clients, the veterinarians?

DG: What's nice is that the service can play different announcements at different times of the day. A new message automatically plays once a doctor is no longer on call. For example, if the doctor is on call, callers might hear "you've reached Dr. Smith, please leave me a message," and then the system will send a text-message alert to the doctor's pager or cell phone. Or if they are no longer on call, the message will say, "You've reached us after-hours, please press 1, and you'll be connected to NYC Veterinary Specialists." The service gives callers a lot of options for reaching emergency and non-emergency personnel, or the doctor's direct cell phone.

And do the clinics like it? What's their response?

DG: Everyone's been really happy with it and not one person who has signed up for the service backed off of it. They get all of these nice features and in return we get their emergency business. We're using quite a few minutes these days, it's increasing every month.

You don't charge them for this service?

DG: No, because one emergency visit can be from several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars.

What else?

DG: It also solves a problem for them. They don't have to worry about who's going to take their clients because we have a relationship with them.

And they can also save money by eliminating their answering services.

DG: The flexibility of the RingCentral system let's them get rid of their answering service, get rid of their calling service and get rid of a number of things that they're using for after-hours phone handling. Veterinarians use different answering systems and most of them are not at all advanced. Some have an answering machine announcing that they're closed and provide the name and number of an emergency hospital, some have a live answering service that'll page them and they used to pay something like $300 to $400 for it.

What do you appreciate the most?

It's a great system for us. The nice part is it's customizable, so someone will be text-paged when there's an urgent message. Doctors can access messages by the telephone or online, so all of those things are great.

Generally, in almost all cases, their RingCentral account is more advanced than what they were doing because they can access it from the internet, and they have all kinds of cool ways of receiving calls and messages.

Answering Rules Helps Ecommerce Business Manage Calls on Both Coasts

RingCentral Online recently spoke with Foodzar.com CEO John McGowan. McGowan also recently started an ecommerce company for fundraisers, Fundraisingdirect.net and Fundraisingdirect.org.

As an ecommerce business owner, how do you use RingCentral?

JM: So far, we’ve been happy with RingCentral. We have two companies with two different phone numbers and different times zones. We have our gourmet food Web site with our toll free vanity number on it, which people call if they have customer problems or want to place an order over the phone rather than online. Then we also have the fundraising company, and some of the callers to that business will get forwarded to my partner’s office in California.

How are the calls to your two toll-free numbers routed?

JM: Well, the Foodzar number is routed directly to my cell phone or to our office here in Ohio. We set the Answering Rules so that calls are scheduled to forward to me from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Afterward the calls automatically go to voicemail. For the fundraising business, call are routed to me in the morning, from 9 a.m. to noon, because I’m on Eastern time, and then calls are routed to my partner in California for the rest of the day, from noon to 6 p.m. Pacific Standard time. So this way we can cover the United States.

How is the fundraising company related to Foodzar?

JM: Foodzar is a gourmet food business. We carry more than 500 products and we’re adding more every day from all over the world. The fundraising business started after we got a lot of calls from people who wated to buy our products because they’d have a fundraiser for their church or school. So we thought we’d go ahead and get into that business using our upscale products. We think that people want to support their kid's school or their church or fire department or whatever, but they don’t necessarily want to buy ridiculous stuff like wrapping paper or garbage just to show their support. So now they get a choice and when their order is delivered to them, there’ll be a card with it that says, "now when you go online to fundraiser.net, every order you place online, a percentage of that goes back to the school or organization all year round." It’s a very unique program, relatively new, and we’re trying to get it going.

Why RingCentral?

JM: Compared to the other systems that are out there, it beats them all. What initially attracted me to the service was that you included some free minutes with the monthly price whereas everybody else charges from the start.

What other services are valuable for your business?

JM: We use the internet fax and I use the Call Logs: If somebody called and I couldn't see who it was, then I can look at the logs. The network is great, too, and the Call Controller let's you see who's calling. The icons on it provide you with quick access to everything in your account, which is a nice feature.

Washington Real Estate Agent Praises RingCentral as a Sales-Generating Tool

RingCentral Online spoke with real estate professional Eric Badgley of Bellingham WA Real Estate about how he uses RingCentral to reach potential buyers.

You wrote a blog post recently about using RingCentral to provide listing information to potential customers. Can you tell us about it?

EB: Yes. I'll make prerecorded messages about listings and assign them to about 10 different extensions. At the bottom of my listings it’ll say, "for more information, listen to the prerecorded message..." This feature is something that you should promote more often because some companies out there offer prerecorded message deals for $50 a month and I’m paying $20 a month and getting much more. The blog post that I wrote, which is about prerecorded messages for Realtors, is on ActiveRain.com.

What response did you get to the post?

EB: It’s kind of cool because RingCentral ranks number one for prerecorded messages. You can go on the site and read about it and learn about how I set it up (Eric's post, Prerecorded Messages for Realtors). I wrote about RingCentral because when I was trying to get a prerecorded message service for myself, I couldn’t find the right tool. I’m not providing this information for money, I just want to help other people. 

So can you tell us briefly how it works?

EB: I include our toll-free number and the corresponding extension on all advertising. When potential buyers dial the number and the extension they can hear a prerecorded message about the property, and the system then automatically sends a text message alert to me telling me that somebody called, which captures the lead. This is important since a lot of buyers are scared to call the number on a sign because they don’t want to talk to an agent, they just want to get the price.

Where else do you advertise the number and the extension?

EB: Print and Web advertising, flyers. This way potential buyers can call and they’re not intimidated…if they want to speak with a live agent, they can, or they can leave a message. It’s really cool.

What other features do you enjoy using?

EB: The RingMe click-to-call me button is on our Web site.

And how is RingMe working out for you?

EB: It’s working alright, I’m getting more calls per week from my Web site. What makes RingCentral even cooler is that you can do so many things with it.

Where do the calls go, and are you using Answering Rules to set office hours and route calls to different phones during different dates and times?

EB: The calls are forwarded to our cell phones. Calls are forwarded to me and if I’m not available they're forwarded to Angela, my partner, then they'll go to voicemail. In this business, we have to answer the phones all the time.

And the faxing service, I guess this is also a critical tool for real estate agents?

EB: It’s awesome. For instance, I went on vacation to Vegas and I was doing my work right in my room, faxing out. And that’s a big plus, too. It's almost like a freebie because other internet fax companies will charge $15 just for that service alone, and I think yours is way cooler because it keeps a record of faxes in an online account.

You mentioned other prerecorded message services that real estate agents use. Can you tell me about them?

Yes, they provide a prerecorded message service without an 800 number and it is still expensive, $50 a month. I’m paying $20 with RingCentral and I’m getting 15 extensions, a 1-800 number and I also get a fax number. I think it’s awesome and that’s why I love it, and that’s why I tell everyone about it.

Do you also use the Call Controller?

EB: Yes. For instance, when you called I tried to answer the call on my cell phone but I didn't get it in time, but because I’m on my computer the Call Controller was telling me who is calling so I could call you right back. I try to answer every call that comes in.

The fact that the calls are stored in your account, is that something that, as a real estate agent, you think is useful?

EB: Yes, because sometimes I don’t know where the calls are coming from. In addition, when a call comes in and I pick it up on my phone, a recorded announcement will tell me who is on the line before I "press 1 to accept." It’s nice to have it.

Do you work from home or do you have an outside office?

EB: Well, I have an office and then I sometimes I work at night at home. In my house, I don’t have a fax machine so I love RingCentral because I can make deals in my home without a fax machine, and the paper and maintenance that goes along with it. 

Importer's New Marketing Effort has the Wine do the Talking

RingCentral Online spoke with Patrick Mata of New York-based Ole Imports about how he uses RingCentral to give wines a "voice," providing the missing piece to the beverage's role in our five senses.

[Hear what this wine has to say: GI Grenacha]

You're using RingCentral as an interesting marketing tool, to provide information about your Spanish wines. How?

PM: Basically, what we wanted to do is to make wines that appeal to the five senses so not only wines that you can taste, touch, and see, but wines that you can hear. We use it to give wines a voice.

I'm with you. Please explain how, and what prompted you to create this marketing effort?

PM: Well, when people go to the stores, sometimes they're intimidated by so many wines and they don't really know how to choose one. "Why this wine and not another wine?" It's helpful to hear something that explains a little bit more about wine rather than judge them by looking at the label and looking at the grape. So we decided to have an extension for each of the wines. We have 100 wines and we would like to develop 100 extensions. Right now we have five extensions for five different wines.

How does the public use it?

PM: The toll-free number and extensions are written on the back labels of the wine, so as we print new labels, all of those extensions will be available for all 100 wines. On the back label, it says, "Hear me out. Call Ole Vino at 888-OLEVINO." This also appears on the cases, our Web site, and it appears on some shelf talkers.

What do your wines say?

PM: Each recording is a personification of each wine. So, the recording can say, "Hello, I'm G1 and I'm from Costa Brava. I'm made with 100% grenacha grapes and I go very well with..." They're appealing. Wine is something that's very rigid. It doesn't move, it doesn't talk. If that product could possibily talk, it's just more interesting and it appeals to you in a much bigger way, especially when you're deciding if you want to buy it.

So a customer would dial the toll-free number while they're in the store, is that the idea?

PM: They can do it from the store, from a restaurant, from home. Also, we have 680 salespeople in the nation and they can dial the number and learn about the wine before they make a presentation. And when they make the presentation, they can dial the number and put the phone to a speaker so everyone can hear what the wine is all about. All of the recordings are downloadable from our Web site and can be put on an iPod.

Fantastic. By the way, what do you mean by GI, G2, etc.?

PM: They are the names of the wine. G wines are a series of wines made with 100% granacha, which is called grenache in France. Granacha grows in a lot of different parts in Spain. The wines are named according to where the grapes were grown: G1, G2, G3, G4, G5. All of them are made with the same grape but grown in different areas. And of course, that makes a huge difference in the wines.

Can you tell me a little about Ole Imports?

PM: Basically we import about 100 different wines from all over Spain and sell them in 34 different states in the U.S. Out of many importers of Spanish wines in the U.S., we are one of the few who specialize in only Spanish wines.

You're from Spain, is that right?

PM: Yes, I am from Malaga, from the south.

Your marketing tool is also an educational tool.

PM: This is very educational. We are very committed to importing wines but also making sure that people understand what is behind the label, which is one of the reasons why we wanted these wines to have a voice.

Do you make some of the wines that you sell?

PM: Yes, we also make some wines in Spain. We started in 1999 when I was in college. I came from Spain to go to college in this country and from my dorm room in Florida, I started importing Spanish wines. Basically things went very well, very fast in the beginning, and I graduated and moved to New York and 8 years later we're in 34 states, and we're in 3rd or 4th place in the nation for Spanish wines.

Do you think people need this type of information?

PM:You can't give enough information about your product especially when a lot of people are looking to learn more about wine. So this is one way of providing useful information to the final consumer. Even though all of this information is available online and on our back labels, the fact that you can hear it makes these wines more appealing to the consumer. The consumer can relate much more to a wine that has a voice than to a wine that is mute.

In a Glut Market, Real Estate Agent Uses RingCentral to Generate Leads, Sales

RingCentral spoke with David Blank, leader of West USA Realty’s Freedom Team in Arizona. Blank's creative use of RingCentral led to a spurt in sales leads, a savvy strategy in an inflated housing market.

First of all, what is the Freedom Team?

DB: I’m a subcontractor with West USA Realty and I have a team of 12 under me that we call the Freedom Team. A good portion of our growth, I can tie directly to RingCentral.

You use RingCentral in a unique way. Tell us about it.

DB: On our sign, we advertise our 800 number and give buyers an extension to dial to hear recorded details about that property. Afterward, they can press a key on their phone to speak to an agent. Even if they didn't talk to anyone, we get a log of their phone numbers and call them all back. This solves the problem that real estate agents and buyers face when the box of flyers on a For Sale sign becomes empty.

So you use RingCentral to generate and follow up on leads?

DB: Yes. It’s like having an open house 24/7.

Can you elaborate?

My brother is my business partner, and a telemarketer for me full time. When we get calls on a property, the buyers' numbers are stored and we call everyone back to determine their interest.

Not only does our 800 number generate leads for the business, but we also don’t have clients getting upset that they’re out of flyers. 

So you've stopped using flyers altogether?

DB: We used to go through hundreds of flyers, and get no calls. Our pitch to sellers now is that flyers are a waste of time. We'll display them inside the more upscale properties, and a few clients will demand them, but for the most part the 800 number has eliminated our need for them.

You also use your 800 number to track an ad’s success or failure. Tell us a little about that.

DB: We started advertising our properties in real estate magazines, and we wanted to track the results. In each ad, we included our 800 number with a unique extension, and we changed the extension monthly. We can determine a cost/benefit ratio by the number of phone calls we receive.

How many extensions do you have?

We have 200.

200 extensions?

One big thing that I like about RingCentral is that every time we need more extensions, we get great customer service. This has made me a committed RingCentral user. You guys have been very nice.

Do you use RingCentral in any other way?

DB: When I become a broker, we'll expand our use of RingCentral to put on the façade of a larger real estate firm. RingCentral has changed the way we do business, absolutely.

Forbes magazine ran an article recently stating that Phoenix, Arizona is one of the best places for business and careers. How is the real estate market these days?

DB: Where are you from?

I live in the Bay area.

DB: We have about 70 properties for sale for right now, which is far too many and the market is inflated. We’ve had people from California, Vegas and other parts of the country flocking here like crazy. Now we’re paying for it. A couple of years ago, there were 8,000 properties on the market, now there are 43,000. We started using your service in 2004, and back then I was using 2-digit extensions for our listings. Now we’re using 3-digit extensions to give us more room.

Note: This is not inconsistent with Businessweek's Blog entry titled "Housing Glut?," which reported that the number of single family homes for sale is 35% higher than a year ago, a record.

Georgia Business Uses RingCentral to Link Childcare Providers and Staff

RingCentral Online spoke with Khalidah Kanteh, the CEO of the Georgia-based Fitra Group, which includes a corporate and home-based childcare service.

What is the Fitra Group?

KK: Basically it has a lot of different parts. There are marketing, childcare and import/export sections. With the childcare section, what we do is provide 24-hour childcare for corporations if they don’t have their own on-site childcare, and of course we have licensed day-care providers that provide care for families. We also do business-to-business marketing for other companies. Then there's the import/export section, and that’s mainly for products that we need to facilitate our business.

I noticed that you use the RingMe feature on your Web site. How is that working out for you?

KK: I’m so glad that you mentioned that because the Click-to-Call Me feature has helped us out so much. We actually put it on the day-care section of our Web site (www.24hourchildcare.net), so with the name being so generic we get a lot of people that type it directly into their browsers and when the page comes up, they don’t have to search around for contact information. They just click the RingMe button and they get someone on the phone right away. That really grabs a lot of people.

How do you use RingCentral?

KK: It’s actually worked out very well for us. I think we’ve had it about 2 years or so by now. What we were looking for is something to provide us with the ability to link up with a Virtual PBX so that we could always be in touch with each other and we wouldn’t have to rely on cell phones. We were looking for one number to roll over to each individual person.

To the child care providers?

KK: Yes, the child care providers and the general staff. We have about 16 staff members. We’re in Georgia but our staff are located in four other areas as well: Texas, California, Milwaukee, and New York City.

How many childcare providers do you have?

KK: At this point, about 3,600. What we do is we contract with licensed childcare providers in the state of Georgia. When providers get their licenses they can’t automatically get [business] so they contact us, put their information online, and we get them set up.They roll over to RingCentral when they decide that they’re ready to work for that day. Mainly, if someone wants to work for that particular day, then we’ll go ahead and put their number into the system.

How is your service set up? What do the callers hear?

KK: If someone is looking for someone in one part of town, and they press that particular extension, it’ll forward to one of the staff members who can find them a childcare provider in that area.

What about some of the other features, such as the Call Logs?

KK: Oh, wow, that really helps quite a bit. One of the things we absolutely love about RingCentral is the daily and weekly Call Logs. In the past, we had some trouble doing follow ups with customers who called in. We couldn’t determine who that person at such-and-such number was, but since there’s a daily Call Log we can determine that information based on when they called. It really helps us locate people and follow up with them. We retain customers that way.

Do you use RingCentral to screen callers as well?

KK: Yes, that actually helps quite a bit because I know that in the past we have had telemarketers contact us. They would block their ID and we couldn’t tell who it was so we ended up talking to them or getting unnecessary faxes, but now we can see who it is and it really helps out a good deal.

Do you block them then?

KK: Yes, we do.

How do you use the Internet Fax?

KK: When a parent wants to fax in a registration. For security purposes, some don’t want to do it online.

Is there anything other feature you find particularly useful for your business?

KK: Oh yes, the international calling feature. It’s really wonderful. Our staff actually calls in and tells us the price of calling someone in a different country. They know exactly how much it’s going to be and they can tell how long they’ve been on the call, and that obviously helps out when we’re doing audits. It really helps out quite a bit.

Do you monitor calls?

KK: We did in the beginning. Of course, the person who handles the quality assurance wanted to know what’s going on and who’s doing what. She would monitor calls and see what people are doing and how long they’re on a call.

Do you use the Answering Rules so that calls are forwarded to different phones at different times of the day/days of the week?

KK: We’re looking to hire some people who aren’t in the US to work at nighttime, daytime for them, and still be able to take calls. The Answering Rules will help us in this situation.

With RingCentral, Radio Host can Field Listener Calls while Sunning in Bermuda

RingCentral Online spoke with Wayne "Holla" Waller of Baltimore, Maryland. Waller is an entrepreneur and host of the The B Factory, an internet radio program devoted to urban and contemporary gospel music.

What is Holla Walla?

WW: Holla Walla is basically a branded radio personality for my internet radio station. People from across the country can call in for giveaways, prizes, and requests, things of that nature. It’s just like a traditional radio station in a local market but it has a nationwide presence.

How have you set up your RingCentral service?

WW: I ordered the vanity number 1-888-FO-HOLLA, which is the primary number for the station overall. It is the direct connect for all of our communication needs: interaction with my listeners as well as interaction with labels and artists, vendors and sales. The vanity number helps with the branding.

How have you configured your extensions?

WW: I use them for the radio drops, interviews, and general interaction calls. What sold me on the service were the extensions and call forwarding [features] so that I can outsource a lot of the activities that go on in a radio station. I can set up the system so that calls can go to different phones and in different parts of the country.

Right now, you use about 4 or 5 extensions. Where are you directing these calls now?

WW: Right now I use one primary phone but I forward calls to my business cell when I’m traveling, if I need to. Some listener-based calls are forwarded to my production assistant.

Do you travel much and if so, what role does RingCentral play?

WW: I travel a lot. In fact, I’m out tomorrow on a five-day cruise. Aside from the radio station, I have a separate company for artist development and management, so I travel a lot on business and I use the call forwarding feature, which works great. My listeners don’t know whether I’m in my home studio or out. All they care about is that somebody answers the line. We could be on a cruise ship in Bermuda and I could answer calls from my listeners that have been forwarded to my cell with “It’s the B Factory” [laughs]. We need to make ourselves accessible because internet radio is still growing and in most cases it’s not as interactive as traditional radio. I did traditional radio in Washington DC for five years. It’s a different kind of situation with the internet because while you may have a lot of listeners, they have more reservations about calling. So when they call, I want there to be a voice on the other end of the line.

I noticed that you also use the customized music on hold.

WW: Yes, I have uploaded some of the loops and jingles for the show to the system, so callers-on-hold get promotional information. Everything is driven around the show and the brand.

How has the service helped your professional image?

WW: I’m really pleased with the service, the image of the service, and the image that it gives the station. It completes the operation and it gives a very corporate and established feel to what may be a home-grown fledgling business that's growing. It gives me the image that I need as I grow.

Why RingCentral?

WW: I read up on all of the options that were available, but the biggest thing that interested me was the vanity number and the price for what you offer. It rated really well and the service gives you everything and more, and that’s why I’m here.

Tell me about the music you play.

WW: It’s all gospel. The concentration is on urban gospel but it’s a combination of both traditional and contemporary and we try inspirational music as well. It’s not directed to any faith-based or organizational religion but speaks to life overall.

Listeners can go to my web site www.hollawalla.com and access the program directly.

E-commerce Merchant Boosts Sales with Adoption of RingCentral

RingCentral interviewed Shner Hickson, a titanium power seller on eBay and president of ZoomCell.com, an e-commerce site with an office and warehouse in Brooklyn, NY.

Why RingCentral?

SH: RingCentral is a great option for our site visitors to reach us toll-free. It helps us serve our customers better and it has definitely helped us increase sales.

In what way does it impact sales?

SH: Since we switched to RingCentral’s professional system, we have seen a 20% increase in over-the-phone sales, as well as an increase in Internet orders by customers who have called in with sales-related inquires.

Twenty percent is impressive.

SH: Consider that there are a lot of Web sites out there and not all of them are up-to-date, so speaking with someone lets customers know that everything is in order and that there are real humans on the other end. Also, with email, sometimes it can take a long time for them to get a complete response to their question, and giving our customers a real person to speak to boosts their confidence.

What did you use before RingCentral?

SH: Before RingCentral, we were using regular landlines, VoIP and cellular phones, but it was not always easy for customers to reach the right person at the right time. We didn’t have a PBX system. The RingCentral system has advanced features that you can only find in expensive high-end PBX systems.

You’re also a titanium power seller on eBay ($150,000 or more in sales). What's your strategy and key to success?

SH: We sell our most popular products as well as our overstock products and customer returns on eBay. The items are sold in fixed price “buy it now” listings, which allows us to choose the price the item will sell for.                                       

Our key to success on eBay is quite simple. We provide honest, clear descriptions and a truly dedicated customer service staff. We have consistently maintained a customer satisfaction level of at least 99% or more based on customer feedback, which is no easy task.

Why not?

SH: Because of the technical nature of cellular devices. It requires complete dedication to working with each and every customer and doing your best to provide full customer satisfaction, at all times. When customers see your feedback history and your dedication to customer service, they choose to buy from you.

Do you have a story about when RingCentral came in handy for you or for your employees?

SH: We had a large corporate customer who called with an important matter. Thanks to RingCentral, we were able to seamlessly transfer his call to the account manager, who happened to be on a business trip in Europe at the time. During this call, we closed a major deal.

How is your service configured?

SH: We set up our virtual PBX with five extensions, with calls going to our regular and VoIP phones and to our cellular phones. For sales, we direct all calls to three different phones that will ring simultaneously. Customer service and technical support employees set up their own regular hours of operation and direct all calls from those extensions to their cell phones. During after hours, calls are routed to voice mailboxes.

We have five employees who are all located in New York, but some travel. We sell nationwide. RingCentral allows them to stay in touch with customers no matter where they are.

What is ZoomCell.com?

SH: We’re an online retail store selling high-quality cellular phones and Smartphone devices. If a customer wants to upgrade their handset, or buy a cellular-related gift, we can give them advice, products and support. What’s unique about us is that our customers are not tied to any contract—and the devices can be used with any wireless network worldwide.