Providing the lines is providing the service – Martin and Co. Leicester
Prior to running Martin and Co. Leicester, Steve Buttery had worked at BT for 18 years alongside our MD, John Townsend. He and Steve had been on regular joint visits together where they would talk to businesses about the benefits for using BT compared to alternative suppliers.
“Anyone who thinks my background made selling to Steve easy couldn’t be more wrong,” explains John Townsend. ”Steve was far too astute to give EMtel his business just because he knew me. Not only that, he knew every pitfall and every trick in the book and he quizzed me over all of them. I felt a massive sense of achievement when he signed with us. However, that was just the start of the story. Martin and Co Leicester is still a customer demonstrating that EMtel delivered my promises.”
A key part of our offering to Martin and Co was being able to supply the telephone lines. Prior to 2004, Openreach lines could only be supplied by BT so other suppliers were restricted to supplying call traffic. This was great for BT as it meant just about every business in the country was their customer. It wasn’t as great for businesses as, in many cases, they had no choice other than to use BT.
When John Townsend discovered that the market was going to be opened up, he saw that everything was going to change. “Selling call traffic was just about the price,” he says, “and there was only so far you could go with that. As soon we were able to supply telephone lines, we could now provide the service. Whatever customers needed, they could now come to us. For reasons I couldn’t justify at the time, I felt confident that I could set-up a telecoms company that could offer a better service than many other suppliers. We entered the market when it was already over-saturated and have since survived the biggest recession in living memory. We must be doing something right.”
“I originally invited EMtel to pitch for my telecoms business way back in 2005, not because John is a likeable chap, but because I knew from our BT days that he was likely to be both competent and credible. John convinced me that he could provide a good quality service which met our needs at a competitive price and that is the reason why EMtel won the business.
I’ve continued to use and recommend EMtel ever since because they’ve always delivered what they’ve promised – reliable service at a competitive price. From time-to-time they’ve proactively changed our tariff without being asked to ensure the rates we pay remain competitive and on the rare occasions when things go wrong they are put right quickly and with the minimum of fuss.
Admittedly our shared history helps in one respect. I’m regularly approached by companies claiming to offer cheaper service. However, my background ‘in the trade’ means that I know the pitfalls of using supposedly ‘cheap’ telecoms companies so I rarely give them the time of day (although I do occasionally listen to somebody, just to check there’s nothing new that I’m missing).
On the other hand our shared history arguably makes me a more challenging customer. I used my own knowledge to devise a complex telecoms solution for my offices (probably far more complex than most similarly sized businesses). EMtel has the task of delivering and running the solution. I’m sure EMtel would never make excuses or try to fob off a customer anyway but, in my case, they know that they’d never get away with it because I know exactly what can and can’t be done.
I’m always happy for EMtel to use me as a reference site and look forward to a continued good business relationship.”
