When You’d Rather Be Brewing Beer…
Half Acre Beer Company was founded in 2006 in a spare bedroom. It soon grew into a thriving brewery in the heart of Chicago. The passion of Half Acre’s founders certainly wasn’t phone systems. It was beer. But, as with many growing companies, one of the challenges that came with growth was managing the company’s communications system. Their relationship with AccessDirect is one of the many success stories our services have helped create for entrepreneurs and small businesses around the country.
A Powerful, But Cost Effective Phone Solution
Half Acre brewery has been using AccessDirect’s communication solution since May 2015; they use our Direct Receptionist Automated Attendant program which gives them the ability to hard forward their main number to a toll free virtual number. The auto attendant receives incoming calls and send them where they need to go. The service allows companies of any size to make a “big-business impression.” For callers, it seems like all of your staff members are sitting together in an office tower (even if your business is really comprised of just you, wearing many hats, and sitting in your living room).
Meredith Anderson does communications for Half Acre. Before calling AccessDirect, Half Acre wasn’t using any kind of phone system whatsoever. For a growing business, the inefficiencies involved in a task as seemingly simple as answering the phone, soon became all too apparent. “My other daily tasks were halted 100 times a day because of having to stop and find people so they could take their calls,” says Anderson. “Especially in our new building, which is huge, it would have taken me 20 minutes to walk from one end to the other.”
To complicate matters further, Half Acre had just opened a second facility. “When we only had one building,” Anderson says, “the phone would ring, I would answer it and go find whoever the call was for. That was obviously not going to be possible anymore, so we needed a way to direct calls to the individuals they were for, without breaking the bank.”
Big Benefits for Small Businesses
And that’s just what Half Acre did when they connected with AccessDirect. “It’s extremely affordable,” says Anderson. “We didn’t have to change our phone number, and calls are directed to people’s cell phones. So wherever they are, they can answer if they’re able to. The voicemail is also very flexible and helpful. I receive notifications via text and e-mail if someone leaves a voicemail, so I can call them back within five minutes. People are always surprised to hear back so quickly.”
Half Acre’s experience with the Direct Receptionist Automated Attendant program is just one of many examples of how AccessDirect can provide effective solutions to meet a company’s communication needs so they can focus on what they’re truly passionate about.
Interested in learning more about our PBX system for beer companies? Get in touch. We’re passionate about making the lives of entrepreneurs and small business owners less complicated so they can focus on their business—not on their phone systems!