Telecom in Ten | Episode 8 | Quality Connections | Our Customer-Focused Sales Team

Dan Amado – Strategic Relationship Manager | John Grabau – Senior Account Executive

Welcome to Telecom in Ten, where we explore the quality connections between our cutting-edge technology, unparalleled service, reliable products, and you, our customer and community, as we continue to transform Telecom here at Northland Communications.

Welcome to our eighth episode of Telecom in Ten featuring two veteran members of our sales team here at Northland; Dan Amado and John Grabau. 

01. We Build a Relationship with Customers | (0:30)

Dan: The account executives and customer relations rep work together to support existing customers as well as new customers that are brought on. And the strategy or idea behind that is giving that customer more than one point of contact here at Northland communications to kind of foster and grow that relationship with the customer and to give them as many resources and contacts here at northland as we can so that we can continue to build relationships with the customers on two different levels. So that is our approach what will really be our main focus in 2023 is kind of getting back to that. You know with the pandemic, people haven’t been meeting regularly or it’s been through video, so a lot of these customers have not had a chance to have someone from northland meet with them. Either fact to face or via video to review the services that they have with us, discuss contract renewals and new product offerings so in 2023 that’s going to be a dual approach.

John: The old role of the account executive before was to go out and find new business, go through the process, help them get connected to the northland service and move on. Now in 2023 it’s more of a team approach, so it gives that customer not only when they come no to northland services but while they’re here you have a team you can call to answer any questions or concerns that you may have.

02. We Understand our Customers’ Needs | (1:50)

John: Our role here is to meet with different customers and understand what their needs are and provide them with solutions to enhance their business and their communications both internally and externally for them. There’s a process in place. From the time that the first contact, first meeting we have until the install, we have a process in place. And with that process it covers both the customer’s needs and northland’s needs so that when we get to the install timeframe—there are no questions because we’re dotting the I’s and crossing the t’s ahead of time.

03. We Use a Proven Process | (2:45)

John: From that standpoint, we have a meeting we give you a budgetary pricing, we have an engineer come out and do a survey in many cases just to make sure that there’s no surprises and then from there we talk with the customer again and move forward to the contract signing. After the contract signing we have another whole process so again you don’t have multiple departments contacting this customer—we set up a project manager so there’s one point of contact on that. And then throughout this process the customer relationship manager is put into place so they know they have someone they can contact on a day to day basis.

04. We Support Our Customers | (3:35)

Dan: So, current customers can expect to have a personalized point of contact here at northland communications. Primarily as the customer relations manager and again that person will the point of contact for the customers with any questions or concerns they might have—even if they aren’t sure that we are the right person to be answering the questions for them—they can reach out to us and we will direct them to the appropriate department or person.

05. We Focus on a Team Approach | (4:30)

Dan: The main focus in 2023 is really getting in front of the customers and taking are of the customers as we have done all these years. You know we hit that bump in the road with the pandemic and everyone working remotely and people just losing track of what they had and services that they may need. They may have some outdated services, there may be some new er pricing, there may be some upgrades that are available to them whether that’s on the services side or from a phone equipment standpoint with refreshing equipment. That is what we are really starting to dig into here. And again working with the AE on some of those accounts, bringing in the at additional person to strengthen that relationship  we have with customers understand that there is a team approach here at northland you have a team behind you and we’re here to support you and make sure that you have everything you need in order to run your business as you need to run it.

John: The two key words are process and team. Now we have a team approach where in the past, after it was sold, I had moved on and now we’re more engaged working hand in hand with the relations manager.

06. We Can Extend Outside of Our Network | (5:45)

John: Our fiber network which northland owns and operates, in the Central New York area.   We can customize a solution for you that will work for you. If you’re outside of our fiber optic network, we can still provide services for you. We have a number of fiber optic partners throughout the country so just because it might not be within our footprint on our fiber network does not mean that we cannot come up with a service or solution for you.

07. We Grow Along with You | (6:15)

Dan: So at Northland we have a wide variety and wide product offering so when we initially meet with the customer or the account executive does. They have this vast bundle of products that we have available that we can talk to the customer about to really see what fits their needs. Once we come up with that and the customer is with Northland. going forward as that customer may continue to grow in various capacities we have the ability to take a look at the at customer and work with them to customize a solution for them depending on the situation. We really work with the customer and the products we have we present them with several different options and some cases of how they can achieve the goals they are looking to accomplish so going forward its building upon what we already and have and looking at services that customer may not have with northland and is it possible for us to offer that service to our customer. We’re always looking to grow along with our customers to help them as they continue to grow their business.

08. We Create Custom Solutions | (7:20)

John: Northland communications is a company that is going to service 3-4 users to service hundreds of users. At northland our solutions are not cookie cutter. We are going to work with you to customize a solution that meets the customers’ needs and we will work with them to find our pain points that they have and try to enhance their business through their telecommunication services.

Dan: It’s the personal interaction with business owners and people in the community. Over my tenure here at northland communications people have started out as customers in some cases have become friends. Internally here at northland everyone is very approachable.  It’s just the whole culture and team that we work with here.

09. We’re Dedicated to Your Success | (8:15)

Dan: Everyone is super focused on making sure that customers have what they need in order to be able to run their business on a day-to-day basis. And we’re very focused that any issues that the customer has are resolved. Some of my best relationships with customers actually come out of bad experiences where you know they get to see how northland performs under those conditions and how we help them out when they have something going on at their organization whether it’s in or out of their control. We can talk about all the great things northland can do for a customer but sometimes a customer doesn’t really get to see that or understand that until they’re in a situation and you know its someone from northland that’s calling them or showing up at certain time to meet them or resolve a problem that they may have. I enjoy being a company that’s able to provide that level of service and support to our customers.

10. We’re Accessible to You | (9:15)

John: To get answers here at northland, you don’t have to go through too many layers to find those answers especially with this new 2023 team approach. You can always reach out to your sales or relationship rep to help you navigate that. If you’re interested in learning more about our products and services, you can go to www.northland.net or contact one of our inside sales people at 315-624-2216.