findwell
Inexpensive, Feature-Rich Telephony Solution Helps Real Estate Agents Sell Homes
Partner: findwell
Web Site: www.findwellrealestate.com
Customer Size: 3 employees
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Real Estate
Partner: Congruent Software
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Customer Profile
Located in Seattle, Washington, findwell is a full-service real estate brokerage that helps customers save money when buying and selling homes.
Software and Services
- Microsoft® Office Outlook 2003
- Microsoft® Response Point™
- Microsoft® Windows Small Business Server 2003
"The price of the hardware, the installation, and the ongoing maintenance of the system is lower than other telephony solutions. I’d highly recommend Microsoft Response Point to other small businesses."
Kevin Lisota, President, findwell
Business Needs
findwell is a full-service real estate brokerage that helps homebuyers and sellers save money. As a small but growing startup, finding a cost-effective telephony solution was a high priority. In particular, findwell required a phone system that would help improve responsiveness to interested homebuyers and accommodate the mobile nature of real estate agents. “As realtors, we’re only in the office part of the time, so it’s important for potential buyers to be able to track us down, wherever we are,” states Kevin Lisota, President of findwell. The company wanted a phone system that could integrate e-mail with voice mail. It also wanted call-forwarding features so that agents could receive calls while away from the office.
“I researched some of the more traditional phone vendors, like Panasonic and Nortel,” says Lisota. “But when I took the price of the system, added on the options I needed, and then considered installation costs, it was too expensive.” Lisota looked into used phone systems and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers, such as TalkSwitch, Qwest, and Speakeasy, as an alternative.
Unfortunately, these solutions were not much cheaper and were difficult to install and maintain for Lisota. “The office space was already prewired with Ethernet,” Lisota explains. “I didn’t want to have to rewire for a phone system, so it was important to find a system that used the existing network.”
Solution
Through his research, Lisota discovered Microsoft® Response Point™ phone system software, an advanced phone system, designed especially for small businesses. Microsoft Response Point is available through the Microsoft Small Business Specialist partner program, so startup businesses like findwell can minimize the number of vendors it needs to work with. “It’s great that the same vendor who supports my computer network can also support my phone system,” says Lisota.
Using the specialist locater on the Microsoft Response Point Web site, Lisota contacted Tom Strickland from Congruent Software, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner that specializes in providing IT services for Microsoft solutions. “Tom gave us a great overview of how to use the system, and we ended up ordering six phones, which we received within two days,” raves Lisota. “Tom helped us with the basic deployments and the initial installation. From that point, we configured the basics ourselves.” The setup took no more than half a day.
“Microsoft Response Point has a voice command feature that makes the phone really easy to use. It’s designed acknowledging the fact that most people don’t know how to use their office phones,” says Lisota. “With the press of a button, you just speak a command and the phone does it.”
Congruent Software also integrated Microsoft Response Point with Windows® Small Business Server 2003 and Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003 messaging and collaboration client so that voice mail messages are delivered to an agent’s inbox. “We use Small Business Server 2003 to run our e-mail, and integrating Response Point was simple and seamless. We can retrieve voice mail without leaving Outlook 2003 and without following voice prompts on our handsets,” raves Lisota. “We can also access voice mail from anywhere, whether we’re in the office or checking e-mail on our Windows Mobile® phones.”
Lisota plans to dedicate voice mail mailboxes to listings in a particular neighborhood, a geographic area, or to specific properties for sale. This way, buyers can listen to property descriptions by phone and leave a message in the mailbox regarding a given property.
Benefits
findwell now serves the real estate needs of its clients and pursues its growth goals, without investing additional time and resources setting up and maintaining a phone system. “Microsoft Response Point helps us project a professional image over the phone,” says Lisota. “It makes us feel like a much larger company when we have a system in place that is so easy to use.”
Easy to Manage and Use
Microsoft Response Point phone system software has been extremely easy for findwell to use and configure. “The system is very ‘plug and play.’ We can add phones, users, and mailboxes all by ourselves,” states Lisota. “If you’ve got an existing computer network, you’ll be up and running in no time.” The system requires little to no maintenance, and all actions can be carried out with the push of a button, making it easy to learn, use, and manage—perfect for small businesses.
Conserves Costs
As the owner of a startup company, Lisota could not invest considerable resources in a costly telephony solution. “There are very large installation costs with traditional phone systems. Plus, you can’t do anything by yourself. Any time you want to add a phone, you’ve got to call the telecom partners to get something installed,” explains Lisota. With the Microsoft Response Point phone system software, findwell has a phone system that costs only a fraction of what other systems cost and enables Lisota to make any changes on his own. “The price of the hardware, the installation, and the ongoing maintenance of the system is lower than other telephony solutions. I’d highly recommend Microsoft Response Point to other small businesses.”
Supports Growth
Microsoft Response Point helps findwell capture sales opportunities that fuel company growth. “If somebody sees a ‘For Sale’ sign, and they happen to call at 8:00 P.M., Microsoft Response Point has us covered with automatic call routing,” states Lisota. If the buyer has to leave a message, an agent can easily access the voice message by phone or through the e-mail inbox and respond quickly. “I’m a big fan of the e-mail integration for our voice mail,” says Lisota. “I think this is going to serve our needs for the future.”
For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit: www.microsoft.com/casestudies