Windermere Real Estate - Plantronics Wireless Headset System Case Study
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Study Overview
A total of 70 real estate agents, administrative staff, and executives from Windermere Real Estate in Seattle, Washington, participated in a three-week trial of Plantronics wireless headset systems. Most participants, who spent at least several hours each day working and traveling outside of their offices, received a Plantronics Voyager™ 510SL Bluetooth® Headset System, which enables wireless communication from both a corded office phone and a Bluetooth mobile phone. A small number of participants, whose work was primarily office-based, received either a Plantronics CS70 Wireless Office Headset System or Plantronics CS55 Wireless Office Headset System that work with most office desk phones. Schireson Associates, Inc., an independent research organization, conducted the research study; data was collected in a post-trial online survey completed by 45 participants as well as in pre- and post-interviews conducted with 15 participants.
Business Challenge
Windermere Real Estate agents operate in a highly competitive industry that is being transformed by the availability of online consumer information and tools. As a full-service, full-fee real estate company, Windermere Real Estate agents differentiate themselves from competition by delivering unparalleled customer service and adhering to the highest ethical and business standards. Splitting their workdays both in and out of the office, agents’ ability to communicate easily and effectively with clients from any location, whether in the office, in the car, or at a listing, is of critical importance. And in today’s fast-paced world, real estate agents are increasingly required to perform multiple tasks simultaneously (e.g., talking to a client while searching a new listing online) in order to provide the rapid response and updated information that clients demand.
Study Results
Fully three quarters of Windermere agents reported a high level of satisfaction with Plantronics Voyager Headset Systems. Given that maintaining high quality phone communications is of crucial importance to real estate agents, this represents no small achievement. While Voyager Systems’s dual-use capability—using one headset seamlessly between both office and mobile phones—was found to be valuable, agents used their headsets much more with their cell phones than with their office phones. Generally, agents reported that Voyager is a highly useful business tool and found that the most important benefits were “increased communications convenience” and “an improved ability to multitask.”
The smaller group of administrators and office managers at Windermere who received Plantronics’ office-only headsets (CS55 or CS70 Wireless Office Headset Systems) reported similar levels of satisfaction and benefits with their headsets. A majority also found the 300-foot range of these office headsets valuable as they were able to take calls on their headsets from anywhere within their branch or company offices.
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Plantronics Voyager helps Grif Blackstone be more productive - in and out of the office
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Plantronics had people like Grif Blackstone in mind when it designed the Plantronics Voyager™ 510S Bluetooth® Headset System.
Like many people today, he wears many hats — professional publisher, father, soccer coach, spiritual leader—and had become frustrated with how his demanding schedule in and out of the office made it difficult for him to remain in constant communication. When in the office, he spent much of his time tethered to his desk by a wired headset.
When he left the office, he had to put on a separate headset for use with his mobile phone. And if he was working remotely on his laptop computer, but didn’t have his mobile phone in hand, he was cut off completely.
With the Plantronics Voyager 510S, Blackstone says his day has been transformed by the ability to solve problems as they happen, rather than being faced by a backlog of calls every time he returns to his office. He also points out that as a publisher, it’s immensely helpful for him to have his hands free while he takes care of tasks like checking proofs, marking up pages, designing or laying out the paper, or even getting a much-needed afternoon cup of coffee, all while he takes calls he’d have otherwise missed.
These are benefits that any Plantronics Voyager 510S user can expect to enjoy, but Blackstone has discovered many more capabilities. As a self-avowed productivity guru who’s developing a website to promote methods for increasing office and personal productivity, Blackstone looks for every possible advantage his devices can provide.
For instance, he uses the headset to edit podcasts—downloadable audio files—being posted to The Good News website. But it’s not just work productivity that’s augmented—Blackstone’s personal productivity also has gotten a boost from the Plantronics Voyager 510S. When he’s coaching soccer practice, he has left it on so parents can alert him that their children will be late or won’t make it to practice.
When he’s in the car with his family, he sometimes listens to music or a podcast in one ear while using the other to listen in case his kids need anything. And when people need some emergency spiritual advice, he’s able to always be available to them, regardless of his schedule or what he is doing. Says Blackstone: “This is a headset that should be worn in all phases of day-to-day life.”
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