One of the questions we get asked most often during sales calls is…
“How will cloud telecoms help me run my business better than a traditional phone system?”
We could easily harp on about stuff like cheaper call costs, flexible call management, automated call routing, and the rest. But you might think this is just sales talk. You need to see how switching to a cloud phone system could positively change your business. That’s really what matters, after all.
So in a new series of articles, we’ve decided to take real-life examples of companies that use our cloud telecom services and get them to explain how it has changed the way they run their business.
First up is Carpet Bright UK, a rapidly expanding carpet cleaning business servicing customers in South East England.
Briefly describe your business and how/why you started.
Carpet Bright UK is a carpet cleaning company with its headquarters in Croydon, Surrey. We’re the fastest-growing carpet cleaning company in the South East, serving more than 5,000 domestic and commercial customers every year.
James Lester founded our company. The idea for the new business was conceived in his parent’s spare bedroom. James saw an opportunity and a gap in the market when his parents struggled to find a reliable, efficient and hygienic carpet cleaner.
What were the biggest communication challenges you had to overcome initially?
We faced a number of communication challenges when we first got the business off the ground.
Answering all incoming calls within 60 seconds was particularly problematic. As Carpet Bright UK began to grow, we also found it more difficult to manage the increase in the volume of incoming calls. Our business is open every day of the week, from 9 am until 9 pm, so managing a busy telephone line during this lengthy period proved challenging.
What were the most important features you were looking for in a cloud phone system?
As our business grew, it made sense to switch to a cloud phone system, capitalising on the many benefits that this system could bring us. In particular, we were interested that a cloud phone system could give us the flexibility to scale up our operations as the business began to grow.
It was also important for us to find a cloud phone system that could offer reduced call rates, making it a more cost-effective option for customers to call us, but also for slashing our own operating costs.
We were also looking for a cloud phone system that could offer call recording capability, as this meant we could monitor calls, gain insights into the business and our customers, and for quality control and training purposes.
What attracted you specifically to Numbergroup’s cloud telecom system?
With Numbergroup, we liked that we were dealing with a friendly customer support team – humans and not machines. So, it was reassuring to know that if we had a problem, we could easily talk to someone in person. But, we didn’t have any problems, as the system was easy to set up and use, without any complicated settings.
Also, what attracted us to Numbergroup was that they built us a 100% bespoke PBX account that suited our needs perfectly. This gave us access to our PBX from home or the office, which was an added convenience.
How easy was it to move from your old provider to Numbergroup?
A lot of people are put off changing their telecoms provider, thinking it would prove a hassle to their business operations. But we didn’t find this the case when we switched to Numbergroup. The whole process was really simple and took less than 20 days.
Importantly, for our business, we didn’t want switching from our old provider to a new one to affect business continuity. And when we moved to Numbergroup, it was reassuring that there wasn’t any downtime in communications. This seamless process ensured customers weren’t negatively affected by the changeover in any way.
Having dedicated customer support to hand from Numbergroup also made the process of moving much easier than we’d anticipated.
How did Numbergroup’s services help you grow your business?
Using Numbergroup’s services allowed us to set up inexpensive virtual phone lines within 10 seconds, enabling us to cut expansion costs.
As our volume of incoming calls started to grow, we also benefitted from being able to redirect customers to the appropriate department, which meant their calls were answered much easier and quicker.
The beauty of using Numbergroup’s services has also been that we can now monitor which geographic areas prospects are calling from, giving us great insights into our customer base. This data helps us to decide whether to increase our marketing investment in a particular geographical area.
What new challenges did you encounter as your business grew?
As Carpet Bright UK started to grow rapidly, one of our biggest challenges was managing our cash flow. We pride ourselves on offering a high-quality service. This is our USP that makes us stand out as a carpet cleaning business. So, ensuring we had enough money to invest in new equipment, such as vans, machines and training staff, has been important in maintaining our high standards and allowing us to evolve as a business.
It’s imperative that as we continue to grow and expand our customer base, we keep delivering very high customer satisfaction levels and quality service.
Another challenge we have faced as the business has expanded is managing the tracking of our technicians.
What new features would help your business grow even further?
To be honest, all of our future requirements are currently being met by Numbergroup.
At Carpet Bright UK, we aim to ensure our staff offer the best service possible and receive the highest levels of training. As we grow the business even bigger, I expect we’ll encounter new communication challenges. But, if our experience is anything to go by up to this point, I’m sure Numbergroup will pull out all the stops to ensure we successfully meet and overcome whatever challenges we face.
