Often described as the ultimate destination for music gear, Sweetwater Sound is one of the world’s leading music technology and instrument retailers. The company boasts a massive online store and a sprawling campus in Fort Wayne, Indiana, complete with shops, dining, multiple performance theaters, an education center for music lessons, and an outdoor pavilion for summer concerts. Founded in 1979, Sweetwater is dedicated to sharing its passion for music with its customers.

“At Sweetwater, pretty much everyone is a musician, and we have passionate musicians as our employees.” says Brad Fowler, Full Stack Developer at Sweetwater. “They want to talk about gear, they want to talk about music, they want to talk about the customer’s gigs or what’s next for them, so the relationships you get with customers around music are very strong.”

Call quality and quality calls

With over 3,000 employees on site each day, including 700+ sales engineers, it’s critical for Sweetwater Sound to have a top-notch communications system. “We interact with 30,000 customers a day over the phone, and it’s very important to us that the experience is a good one,” says JP Eagleson, Vice President of IT at Sweetwater. “8x8 had the best call quality of any providers we looked at.”

And good call quality isn’t just about being able to communicate with customers and teammates clearly, explains Chris Caldwell, Sweetwater’s IT Communications Manager. “Here at Sweetwater, when you're on the website shopping for a guitar, the exact guitar that you're looking at is the one you’re purchasing. Our sales engineer can actually have a specific guitar on hand,” explains Caldwell. “They can get a feel for the guitar, how it plays, and relay those details and nuances to the customer while they're talking to them.”

A customer-obsessed company

Previously, Sweetwater had over a dozen on-premises servers that were error-prone, difficult to manage, and becoming increasingly expensive. Now with 8x8, the company has a dynamic communications provider that allows its staff to take calls on the move, which is especially important considering the company’s many departments spread across its massive campus.

“8x8 allows us to be more customer-obsessed,” says Caldwell. “It gives our employees the ability to be much more connected with each other and with our customers, without being tied to their desks.”

Sweet Sweetwater

One of the ways that Sweetwater goes above and beyond for its customers is by adding a little something sweet to customers’ orders. “When we ship out an order, we put candy in the box as a little token of appreciation, a ‘thank you’ for buying from us,” says Fowler. But that’s not all—not only does Sweetwater include candy in its order, but they even go the extra mile by keeping track of its customers’ preferences and favorites. “If you mention to your sales engineer that you love Smarties, we'll keep track of that.

"We actually have a team member in our distribution center whose job it is to accommodate those types of requests. And it's little things like that about Sweetwater that matter so much to us. We like to go the extra mile.”

Customer-led workflow

By ensuring that communications are dynamic, flexible, and efficient, 8x8 allows Sweetwater to focus on continuing to provide exceptional customer support. “We share our passion for music with our customers, and a big part of that is ensuring that all of our customers have the opportunity to get what they need to be successful and achieve their musical dreams,” says Dean Ward, VoIP Engineer at Sweetwater. “Whether we’re communicating via email, phone, or in person, we want to offer the same excellent experience every time.”

See more about how Sweetwater puts customers first in the video below.

View more customer-obsessed content and customer stories here.