With so many available options to consumers, the automotive sales industry is, without a doubt, one of the most competitive. Add in the fast-paced environment of downtown Toronto and you can’t afford to lose customers due to a slow response or worse, downtime with your phone system.
Exceptional customer service is one of the main reasons the Toronto-based Downtown Automotive Group (DAG) has grown to ten locations, including Toyota on Front and Infinity Downtown, featuring six different brands since it started in 1992. Just over a year ago, DAG Director of Operations Ron Provost realized that their old phone system was not capable of delivering the high standards for customer service he set for himself and his team. He needed the latest and greatest for his growing enterprise and its multiple locations.
“I basically weeded it down to three companies in a very short time, not much longer after that I weeded it down to NEWT.” When asked what it was about the NEWT that set them apart he said, “they were more interested in our business and how they could make it better for us . . . not for what they need, but for what we need”.
One of the main reasons the NEWT Managed PBX has helped DAG provide better service for its customers is through innovative features like “Direct Inward Dial” (DID). With DID, employees in the system are each assigned a unique 10-digit phone number, making it easier for customers to reach them. “For customers it’s great. It’s no longer transfer, transfer, transfer… They just call me directly now,” explained Provost.
Response time to customers who leave a voicemail as well as time spent calling into the system is also minimized thanks to the “Voicemail to Email” feature. “If I’m off-site I’d have to phone in and see how many messages I have, if I have any messages,” commented Provost. He also added that sometimes checking voicemails also cost him on long-distance. “I could be in the middle of nowhere, make a long-distance call to my own system, just to find out there is nothing to return.” When looking at the difference “Voicemail to Email” now makes for him and the customers, “with NEWT, I don’t have to phone in, I know that when I get a voicemail, somebody’s looking for me and I usually answer it right away so the response time for the customer is great.”
“When I get my invoices from NEWT I kind of chuckle. From where we’ve been to where we are now, I mean it’s night and day!”
NEWT Business Phone System on the job
With advanced features and functionality usually comes higher prices, but Provost found out first-hand that isn’t the case at all with NEWT.
“When we took it over a ten-year period, our savings were about a quarter of a million dollars, so when it came down to the decision, there wasn’t much of a decision to be made”.
One of the main sources of savings DAG has realized is in long-distance charges, which through the NEWT Business Phone System have almost been eliminated. Provost describes a time when he showed his manager a five-page report of the long-distance calls made in December, but had removed the pricing. “Needless to say when he was panicking, it actually came to $17 dollars”. When reflecting on the difference the NEWT Managed PBX has made for the DAG, “when I get my invoices from NEWT I kind of chuckle, from where we’ve been to where we are now, I mean it’s night and day”.
NEWT is more than just great technology at a great price
But where NEWT has undoubtedly separated itself in Provost’s eyes has nothing to do with features, savings, or even the phones themselves, but with the people behind the NEWT Solution.
Where other providers may lack a sense of responsibility and loyalty to the customer, Provost was greeted with a different response when he switched to NEWT. “I found that when I phoned NEWT, I actually talked to a person . . . when you phone a company and they answer the phone live, it says a lot about that company.”
“I think the ongoing support is incredible . . . I think I know everybody by name, they all answer the phone with their name, you don’t have to ask for it, you know who you’re talking to, and things get resolved almost immediately”.
When asked if he would recommend the NEWT Managed PBX, Provost is open to speaking to anyone thinking of switching to NEWT: “recommendations are pretty tough from me, but I’ll tell you, give me a call anytime you want to talk about NEWT, I’m all ears. I have a tendency to spread good news and I think NEWT would be good for anybody.”
For more information, please call 1-855-378-7979 or visit www.newt.ca.
