Zero Motorcycles has been called the Tesla of motorcycles. First-time riders of their vehicles liken the experience to a magic carpet ride. While riding one of these high-tech machines may be eerily smooth, it’s not tame. Top speed of the Zero SR exceeds 100 mph.
Equal parts office and factory, Zero’s Santa Cruz headquarters lead a visitor to learn the first major point about this company: they are passionate about creating great experiences for their customers. Word is spreading fast—over a 12-month period in 2014–2015, Zero doubled their sales. Growing fast means scaling everything you do. It also means establishing priorities around what to invest in. “We don’t spend a lot of money on IT,” Director of Customer Experience, Aaron Cheatham tell us. “We spend it on making motorcycles.”
Motorcycles may win out, but customer service doesn’t suffer. This is because Zero opted to get their phone system from RingCentral. A big challenge in creating a game-changing product is making yourself available when customers need you. Zero’s staff appreciate the ability to answer work calls on their RingCentral desktop and mobile applications when they need to take calls from home or elsewhere on weekends or holidays. These are times when their dealers and distributors are typically most active.
Integration with Salesforce and other applications is also important. With so many customers residing in different geographies, having your CRM and phone systems tied together means fewer loose ends to worry about and better tracking of calls. As Cheatham says, “When you sell a high-tech product, customers expect a high-tech experience.”
Zero has an exciting future, and it’s one that RingCentral is excited to follow and support. Learn how your company—like Zero Motorcycles—can make the transition to a cloud phone system without any hassles or significant capital expenses.
Originally published Jun 24, 2015, updated Sep 20, 2021