8X8 HOSTED VOIP SEAMLESSLY CONNECTS REAL ESTATE AGENTS WHEREVER THEY WORK - RE/MAX TRI COUNTY, REAL ESTATE COMPANY
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Case Study 8x8 Hosted VoIP Seamlessly Connects Real Estate Agents Wherever They Work RE/MAX Tri County, real estate company
Case Study
8x8 Hosted VoIP Seamlessly Connects
Real Estate Agents Wherever They Work
In 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey hard. Recurring power
Customer Name: RE/MAX
Tri County brownouts irreparably damaged RE/MAX Tri County’s NEC phone
system, which had previously been damaged by a lightning strike.
Industry: Real estate
Instead of installing another premises-based PBX, the company
Location: Hamilton, New Jersey
selected 8x8 hosted VoIP service. Now, with its phone system safely
Website:
secured off site, the company is ready for anything.
mercercountyhomesforsale.com
8x8 Products: Virtual Office Empowering Agents Hurricane Sandy Damaged the
When Rosalie Daniels founded RE/MAX
Company’s On-Site PBX
Favorite 8x8 Features: When Hurricane Sandy struck in 2012,
Tri County in Hamilton, New Jersey, in
• Follow-me connectivity for 1991, she wasn’t interested in running the company’s office was spared direct
mobile and work-at-home agents a traditional real estate company. Her damage, but recurring brownouts damaged
business philosophy is to empower the hard drive of its 14-year-old NEC phone
• 8x8 mobile app
independent agents by letting them spread system. Daniels and her office manager,
• Internet fax Mary Mammino, had dealt with repairing
their wings while operating under the
• Easy setup for new agents RE/MAX umbrella. the phone system once before, when their
building was struck by lightning. This time
Initial Setup: 63 Virtual Office lines “Our company is like a professional the prognosis was more dire: the hard drive
Time to Deploy: 3 days association of doctors or lawyers who was too old to be repaired and needed to be
all work for the same firm,” she explains. replaced quickly.
Connectivity Type: Ethernet “Agents pay their share of expenses and
get to keep their entire commission less a “Our PBX was still working, but we were
Vendor Replaced:
NEC Voicemail-Auto Attendant franchise fee. It’s a very appealing economic limping along,” says Mammino. “Because
System using Aspire phones model for independent agents, and it’s parts of the hard drive were damaged,
made our business successful from the features like electronic fax and voicemail
Primary Reason Chose 8x8:
beginning.” were not reliable anymore. We knew it was
Company wanted a hosted VoIP
solution, and 8x8 was highly just a matter of time before the whole
Over the years, that success has grown system went down.”
recommended by a business partner
to include 57 agents who handle both
residential and commercial real estate, and Daniels had started looking into new phone
a large service area that encompasses technologies even before Hurricane Sandy,
Mercer, Burlington and Monmouth because she knew the NEC system was
counties in central New Jersey (hence the approaching its end of life. Although she
name RE/MAX “Tri County”). In keeping didn’t have a specific vendor in mind, she did
with Daniel’s supportive but flexible have one key criterion.
approach, about 40% of the company’s
“I wanted our new phone system to be
agents regularly work from home, and the
off site,” says Daniels. “I’d heard a lot of
remaining 60% work out of the company’s
good things about hosted VoIP service,
main office.
and it didn’t make sense for us to take on
the burden of purchasing, installing and
maintaining another on-site system.”
2
Case Study
A Trusted Business Partner “Even though our agents didn’t do much
Recommends 8x8 Hosted VoIP training on the new system, the 8x8
Daniels and Mammino had to delay their interface makes it very easy for them to use
decision for a few weeks while waiting for the phone features,” adds Daniels.
the company’s insurance company to settle
Follow-Me Service Seamlessly
their claim for the damaged phone system. Connects Work-at-Home Agents
In the meantime, they attended the annual
With 8x8 hosted VoIP service, every
statewide RE/MAX sales rally—and got a tip
RE/MAX Tri County agent now has a direct
from a business partner that pointed them
phone line and can take calls anywhere.
toward 8x8.
This means even the company’s many
“With 8x8, we can route calls “A local title company we often work with work-at-home agents are now seamlessly
heard we were looking for a new phone connected to the main office.
right away—to the agent’s
system,” explains Daniels. “They told us
home, cell phone, or computer. about their 8x8 hosted VoIP service and
“With our old system, we couldn’t transfer
callers to agents who worked at home,”
The caller has no idea that the how great it was. It turned out their 8x8
explains Mammino. “Our receptionist would
agent is not in the office.” account manager was also at the RE/MAX
have to take a message and have the agent
sales rally, so they introduced us, and
call back, or she would have to give out the
Rosalie Daniels everything fell into place.”
agent’s home number or cell phone number.”
Founder and Broker
RE/MAX Tri County Daniels and Mammino worked with 8x8 to
As a business owner, Daniels appreciates
develop a proposal for a new system that
the way 8x8’s Follow-Me service makes her
would be installed as soon as RE/MAX
organization look unified.
Tri County’s insurance claim was settled.
Once that happened, the entire installation “With 8x8, we can route calls right away—to
process took just three days. the agent’s home, cell phone or computer.
The caller has no idea that the agent is
“Our agents are busy salespeople who
not in the office,” she says. “8x8’s service
don’t have the time or patience to learn
is absolutely seamless, and lets us handle
new technology, so we created their user
incoming calls much more efficiently.”
profiles for them,” says Mammino. “That
way, their VoIP phones were ready to use as
soon as the system cut over.”
3
Case Study
“By turning the computer into a Internet Fax Enhances Document 8x8 Mobile Features Let Agents
Security Make Sales Anywhere
softphone, 8x8 lets our agents
Like many real estate companies, RE/MAX RE/MAX Tri County’s agents are constantly
do everything on the same Tri County relies heavily on faxing to on the move, showing properties in multiple
machine. It streamlines the transmit signed documents. 8x8’s Internet counties. The mobile features included in
fax feature has dramatically improved the company’s 8x8 hosted VoIP service
phone system for them and is a
both the timeliness and security of faxed ensure they never miss a sales call.
big time savings.” materials for the company.
“Our agents can log into their 8x8 accounts
Rosalie Daniels “8x8 turns faxes into electronic documents and choose where and how they want their
Founder and Broker that agents receive on their computers or calls routed,” says Daniels. “It truly lets them
RE/MAX Tri County their phones,” says Mammino. “They can work from anywhere.”
see them and respond immediately, which is
Take a Vacation — Customers Won’t
essential in our business.”
Know You’re Gone
“Old-fashioned faxing is unreliable and Daniels experienced that freedom first-
not secure,” agrees Daniels. “The financial hand during a recent trip to Mexico. She
documents we receive often include highly used the 8x8 mobile app on her smartphone
confidential information. When they come in to answer business calls.
over a fax machine, anybody can see them.
“Nobody even knew I was gone,” she
With 8x8, faxes go directly to the correct
exclaims. “People would call my regular
party and no one else.”
office number, and I would answer on my
Access to All Messages from Any cell phone as if I were there. And it was all
Device Saves Time done through 8x8 VoIP service, so there
In addition to receiving electronic faxes in were no extra charges on my cell phone.”
their inboxes, RE/MAX Tri County agents
see all their email and voicemail messages, Daniels and Mammino estimate that about
too. They can read or listen to messages 80% of the company’s agents are now
using their smartphones or computers using the 8x8 mobile app on their iPhones
without having to switch devices. or Android phones. The remaining 20%
simply log in and forward calls to their cell
Daniels notes that agents can even phones when they’re on the go.
review messages or answer calls on their
computers and then log in to modify their “We do a lot of business on our cell phones,
call forwarding and other account features. and 8x8 makes it easy for agents to take
the office with them,” says Daniels.
“By turning the computer into a softphone,
Adding New Agents Takes Minutes
8x8 lets our agents do everything on the
same machine. It streamlines the phone As the office manager, Mammino is
system for them and is a big time savings.” responsible for setting up new agents on
the company’s phone system. In the past, it
was a tiered process that took several days
and communications with several different
companies.
4Case Study
“With 8x8 and its mobile app, “It was horrendous,” she recalls. “Our agents “Salespeople tend to be impatient with
didn’t have direct lines, so we had to work technology, and our agents are no
we can always use our cell with the vendor who managed our phone exception,” says Daniels. “But they’re
phones to run the business if system and then work with the phone already seeing how much they can do with
the power goes out. Having a company to get new extensions for our the 8x8 system, and we’re planning to
agents.” provide more training so they can take full
hosted system gives us more advantage of everything that 8x8 has to
Now with 8x8 hosted VoIP service, the
peace of mind.” offer.”
process takes just a few minutes.
Rosalie Daniels 8x8 Provides Business Continuity
Founder and Broker
“To set up new agents, I contact our 8x8 and Peace of Mind
account manager to add the lines we need. In the meantime, Daniels and Mammino
RE/MAX Tri County
He typically gets back to me within a couple are confident that 8x8 hosted VoIP will
of hours, and then I set up the new agent continue to serve the company well—no
profiles online. It’s very easy and only takes matter what natural disasters might come
about 30 minutes,” says Mammino. their way.
“Before we were at the mercy of our “With 8x8 and its mobile app, we can always
vendors and service providers,” says use our cell phones to run the business
Daniels. “8x8 gives us state-of-the-art if the power goes out,” says Mammino.
equipment and great support, plus we still “Having a hosted system gives us more
have full control over our phone system and peace of mind.”
our business.”
Even so, Daniels hopes there isn’t another
Increasing Benefits as Users
“storm of the century” in the company’s
Continue to Learn
future.
Both Daniels and Mammino agree that
there are still many more benefits agents “But if there is another one, hopefully
can reap from the company’s 8x8 phone lightning won’t strike twice!” she says,
system. The challenge is getting agents laughing.
to slow down long enough to learn about
more advanced features.
To learn more, call 1.866.862.2811 or visit www.8x8.com
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