Pearson-Kelly Technology Owns the Customer Relationship and Finds True Cloud Communications Partner with Intermedia
Pearson-Kelly Technology has always been a customer-first organization. The solutions they provide to other businesses are vital and essential to their success. The company started in 2004 as an office equipment dealer, seeking to support small businesses with print solutions. The family-owned business, led by father-daughter duo Mike Kelly, CEO, and Chelsey Bode, President, believes in partnerships with its clients built on respect, honesty, and communication.
They currently have offices in Springfield and Joplin, Missouri, serving customers in the state as well as Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Several years ago, they were ready to diversify their portfolio with managed IT services, with one of the most vital elements being managed voice services. Ms. Bode and Lee Flood, Executive Vice President, shared their journey to expand their product offerings and deliver a solution that is high-quality, reliable, and allowed them to own the customer relationship.
“We’ve had a number of different partnerships in the past, but none of them allowed us to capture top-line revenue. It was commission only and didn’t give us the control of the client relationship,” Ms. Bode said.
Being hands on with their customer comes down to wanting to ensure the customer experience met their standards. “It was confusing to our customers to have another party involved since they were receiving other services from us,” Ms. Bode added.
Finding the Ideal Partner
Ms. Bode and Mr. Flood knew that such a relationship was possible; they simply needed to see what was out there. Mr. Flood commented, “We knew if we could figure this out, it would be a game changer for our business because most companies aren’t good at it. Most just want that referral program where they can take their hands off. It was different with Intermedia.”
Pearson-Kelly chose to partner with Intermedia because of the flexibility that Intermedia offers partners which allowed Pearson-Kelly to tailor the program to their business’ needs. Intermedia’s CORE ‘customer ownership reseller’ model delivers up to 5x more revenue, control over margins, J.D. Power Certified support, and private label options in addition to training, and marketing materials to ensure success.
Now, the cloud services Pearson Kelly sells through Intermedia represents the fastest-growing segment of their business. Boosting revenue was certainly a goal, but more than that, Pearson Kelly wanted to deliver a quality product and ensure exceptional customer service
“With other vendors we worked with the customer experience they offered our clients wasn’t stellar, so that was a non-negotiable for us to handle the invoicing, customer service, and implementation. It had to feel like Pearson-Kelly, and Intermedia provided this opportunity to partner on the backend while we take care of the customer,” Mr. Flood said.
Beyond the Product, Training and Education Were Key
Next, it was time to implement the cloud-based phone system and learn how it works. “From the very first training, we provided feedback to the team that we loved the knowledge but needed a little more 101; they tailored it to how we are structured. It wasn’t some ‘in a box’ solution. It was custom,” Ms. Bode explained.
Mr. Flood noted the same appreciation. “The sales training and Intermedia University were amazing. They know what they are talking about and educated our support team fast,” Mr. Flood shared.
Ms. Bode also appreciated the Intermedia marketing team and how Intermedia coached Pearson Kelly’s internal marketing folks. The collateral and materials available made a difference in engaging with customers and new prospects, which ultimately translated to sales.
With the goal of building a successful voice business, Pearson Kelly’s selection of Intermedia supports their critical criteria of owning their customer relationships. Now, Pearson Kelly has the right technology and partnership to ensure their success and that of their customers. Learn more about their story by watching the video below.
(Originally published in the Intermedia Blog and authored by Scott Anderson.)
Intermedia is a leading provider of margin-rich, easy-to-support and sell cloud business applications, including unified communications, video collaboration, backup/file sharing, and more. To learn more about the Intermedia reseller opportunities available through EarthBend Distribution, please visit www.earthbenddistribution.com/line-card/intermedia/.