Venus Rising, Ltd Phone System Success Story
 Just in time for the holiday season, RingCentral Online spoke with Shannon Miller, an eBay PowerSeller and co-founder of Venus Rising, Ltd, an online retail store based in Newport Beach, CA. A lover of all things Italian, Miller often heads to Florence and Bergamo as well as some smaller towns in the boot to scope out her high-end luxury bedding for US markets. Prices range from $150 to $1,300.
What role does RingCentral play in your ecommerce experience, especially now during the busy holiday season?
 SM: It's great to do your holiday shopping online, but we've discovered that if they cannot reach someone personally it can really make them frustrated. Customers need a toll free number to get a human being. This is actually kind of funny, but we're now putting a lot of effort into helping our male callers with product selection assistance.
So you are acting as personalized shoppers for them, in a way.
 SM: Yes, women, too, but mostly men. We have a team of product specialists who will talk to customers about coloring, matching patterns, and so on. Customers can call toll free and instead of getting, "This blanket is cashmere, buy it," they can hear about the history of it in Italy, and we provide care instructions and answers to questions such as "What is the best or warmest blanket?" and "What is my wife going to love for Christmas?" They can feel confident about spending their dollars and some of the guys, they may have great ideas but need a little help matching some of the fabrics.
Where do customers find your toll free number?
 SM: Our toll free vanity number is prominently placed on our Web site, eBay store and mailing materials, and it has helped us gain customers. And because we're on the Web, when someone does a Google search for cashmere or whatever, the phone number will come up on the search page and they'll often call us without even looking at our Web site, so it's really helping us grow our business and grow our sales. By the way, the vanity number is really cool. We chose 877-42-VENUS, which has been an awesome branding tool.
Yes, it's easy to remember.
 SM: It's easy to remember and it provides credibility and professionalism. We also send mailers and postcards to our customers, stuff like that...there's still a large segment of the population that is not Web-savvy so it's good for them to be able to place an order by phone.
Absolutely. Luckily for you, you travel a lot to Europe as well as within the US. How does RingCentral help you stay in touch?
SM: Because we're an online retailer, it's important for us to find a way to connect with our customers because we don't have a brick-and-mortar store. Being in constant contact is really vital.
 With RingCentral, when we're in trade shows, for example, we use the answering rules and forward all of our calls to our mobile phones. It's great to have a Web point where we can see all of our phone calls and faxes on our laptop or handheld device (T-Mobile Dish), and I can hear my emailed voicemails without having to call in to listen to them. It's awesome to be able to get my calls and messages by computer and by phone...we're never really out of touch and that has been valuable.
What other features are valuable for your online business?
 SM: Another feature that's really been cool for us is the international incoming call feature, which allows us to accept toll free calls from Canada. It's a little more money per minute but we have a great deal of Canadian customers and we ship a lot of goods to Canada. Now no one feels disconnected. We also have a dedicated fax number, which is another great feature because we're not tied to a local fax. This is really awesome for us in terms of orders because we do go abroad. RingCentral really gives us an opportunity to take our business all over the world!
Speaking of which...how do you conduct business when you're traveling throughout Europe?
 SM: We bring laptops and our smart phones to cafes. Europe, especially, is wired pretty well. We use our smart phones when we cannot access a hotspot so we can view our faxes on our phones. And we can log on to our Web account, access our Call Log and view a list of calls to follow up on later.
RC: From what you've told me before, it seems as if you're a big fan of the Call Log...
SM: Yes. There's been a couple of times when we needed to research something, a missed file for example, and the Call Log is great to have then. It's also good to have the Call Logs to gauge our call flow and see who is handling what, and it gives us the ability to manage costs. For example, we can see how much we're spending connecting with customers.
 Anything else?
SM: What I use often, which I really love, is the Call Controller on our PC. And a really cool feature that I also love is RingOut - and I like the integration with Microsoft Outlook.
What were you using before RingCentral?
SM: We were using a standard business package from our local telephone company. We read about RingCentral in Inc. Magazine and we switched when I saw that you offered the vanity numbers. That was intriguing. And a huge part of our decision was the ability to have a free trial to see what it's really like.
I guess you liked it...
 SM: We love it. We decided to stay with the service due to its professionalism, its ease-of-use as well as the ability to have separate extensions where we can personalize our greetings and we like having the custom music on hold. Again, back to the branding, you want to give customers the full experience.
I suppose that since your product line is high end, you probably get more calls than some other company that's selling, say, toothbrushes?
 SM: I don't think so. Some customers can spend $2,500 without a quip and you never hear from them but there are some who want to call in and know everything.
What's the most popular item this time of year?
SM: Cashmere blankets and cashmere pajamas.
Yum. You're also an eBay PowerSeller and your store was featured in an article in Newsweek about eBay called "The United States of eBay." Can you comment on that?
SM: We were interviewed because the journalist came across our listing while shopping for sheets on eBay. She interviewed 5 different eBay PowerSellers - 3 from the US and 2 from Europe.
 How did you get started in this?
SM: My business partner and I met through a mutual friend and we found out that we both have an interest in fine textiles and we talked about how difficult they are to come by - and we both have an interest in Italy.
I can understand that...I'm also a big fan of the place.
 SM: Yes, there is such a great vibe to Italy. We once rented cars and drove over 3,500 miles across the country seeking bedding in really obscure places and there were some places we never did find. We were looking for a town called Bastardo and we were saying, 'well...that sounds a lot like bastard' and it certainly is the same translation, and we were going around town asking everyone where Bastardo was.
You must have been very popular...?
SM: We got some looks. We never found it and we drove around for hours. I've been in a lot of different countries, but Italy has my heart.
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