How a strong partnership supports a software company’s lifeline

In an era where digital marketing is king, statistical process control software company Zontec has found that a more traditional approach has a better effect on the bottom line. “Our phone system is our lifeline. We sell everything via the phone,” says Zontec business manager Charlene Moeller.

When call quality issues started making it difficult to hear potential customers, Moeller started the search for a new phone system. While doing her due diligence, she heard one too many stories about installations gone wrong — and unresponsive business representatives who did little to address the issues.

Moeller focused her search to find not only the right solution, but also a reliable technology partner that would be determined to deliver what was promised. She found that partner in Spectrum Business — more specifically, in her account manager Jason Pittinger, who over the course of the project, has become a trusted advisor and friend.

This is their story.

Jason: When Charlene first reached out me, the thing that struck me the most about her was just how nice she was. She is literally one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

Charlene: What I liked about Jason is that he really listened. He didn’t do all of the talking; he listened to what we needed, recapped back to me what I told him, then offered solutions.

Jason: My sales engineer Greg and I went to see Charlene at the Zontec office after I spoke with her on the phone. She was really appreciative that we came out to meet with her.

Charlene: It meant a lot to me that Jason and Greg were local and came to see us in person. That really sealed the deal for us. The other vendors we talked to didn’t have a presence in Cincinnati so I didn’t feel we’d get the support we needed. Of course, the solution had to be great too. We tested the Spectrum Business Unified Communications (UC) solution, and it was just like you were in the same room with the person. We loved it. We were excited for the install to start.

Before the install, Jason explained how everything was going to work and gave me a schedule of what was going to happen when. Everything went just as it should. There were no hiccups. No issues — when everything was switched over to the new system we didn’t miss a beat. Jason had set clear expectations, and those expectations were surpassed.

Jason: The only thing that came up was after the install. Some of the senior management wanted us to bring back the lamps that light up when someone is on the phone, which had been replaced by the UC solution’s presence feature that shows someone’s status.

Charlene: I called Jason, and he said, “Absolutely, we can do that.” He got technical support on it right away, and it was done the next day. And when the pandemic hit, he was able to quickly get us soft phone capabilities so all our employees could make and receive calls safely from home.

Jason: Even though everything is running really smoothly, I still call Charlene on a regular basis.

Charlene: Jason calls me just to see how everything is going, which you don’t find too much. Usually salespeople, once they’ve made the sale, they just move on.

Jason: Because we have such a good rapport, we spend maybe one minute talking about business, and the rest of the time chatting about other things. Usually about family.

Charlene: We’re both very family oriented. That’s one of the reasons we have such a good connection. Jason and I talk about our kids all the time.

Jason: I have a young son, and I’m always sharing my latest pictures.

Charlene: Over the past year, Jason’s become more than an account manager to me. He’s now a trusted advisor; I know I can depend on him to deliver exactly what we need from a communications perspective as our business grows and evolves.

Learn more about how we helped Zontec by reading the case study.