Consumer Cellular is clicking on all cylinders these days, providing sterling customer service to a blooming network of loyal wireless customers from their year-old call center in Redmond.
By sub-leasing the massive 77,000 square-foot building from T-Mobile Wireless last August, privately-owned Consumer Cellular was able to expand the organization’s reach beyond its other two call centers in Phoenix, Arizona and its Portland headquarters while keeping hundreds of vital jobs right here in Central Oregon.
President John Marick started with the company 19 years ago and is often amazed by its meteoric ride to success.
“It was co-founded by myself and Greg Pryor in 1995 after working at Cellular One for seven years,” he explained. “It began in Portland with just three of us, then eventually expanded to thirty on staff. Today we’re at about 900 across all of our offices, with 300 employees and counting at our Redmond center.”
Best known as the exclusive wireless carrier for the nation’s AARP members, the company prides itself on award-winning customer service, operating on AT&T’s premium wireless system, the nation’s largest voice and data network, covering nearly 300 million people.
“There’s been a ton of consolidation within the industry over the last few years, but there’s only a limited amount of capacity so there are limits on how much usage that can occur. So to overcome those obstacles you either need technology to get better or you need more spectrum. That demand continues to increase, with smartphones and tablets now a daily part of people’s lives.”
Consumer Cellular aims its marketing toward that huge senior marketplace and continues to blossom as more consumers and customers become aware of their service plans and affordability.
“We’ve focused our efforts on the 50-plus consumer segment so our partnership with AARP was a real coup. Even though we’re privately owned, we do share our numbers so they can learn what we’re all about. We actually just hit our one millionth customer in February and we’re on track to finish the year just a bit north of 1.25 million so this has been a fabulous year for us with expansion.”
Much has changed in the past two decades in the cellular telephone universe, from bulky limited-use devices to today’s thin, ultra-sleek smartphones wired into every facet of the digital world.
“What’s interesting about the wireless industry back then is that it was completely different than it is today,” said Marick. “Years ago it was more of a luxury item and not the indispensible device it is today. The industry norm for independent wireless companies not owning their own network is resale, buying wireless service from the major networks, then rebranding and repackaging it under different corporate names. Buying usage in bulk allowed us to customize service to meet our individual customer needs.”
Today, Consumer Cellular’s main focus has been rapid growth and expanding their number of satisfied customers.
“Piggybacking on AT&T’s network, we don’t have to worry about the network side of the business and building it out, only how to provide the best overall experience for our customer. So being able to step into this new Redmond facility that was already furnished and set up was great. It gave us instant access to a trained workforce, former T-Mobile employees who had that cellular experience, and it let us get up to speed much quicker.”
To entice new customers, Marick and his team provide extreme affordability and tailor their pricing for more casual cell users.
“We’re able to come up with rate plans that can save people quite a bit of money over the national carriers. We don’t make anyone sign a longterm contract; we want you to stay because you’re happy with our service. Bring your own phone to us, as long as it was linked to the AT&T network, or any unlocked GSM phone. In terms of equipment, many people have a phone they’re happy with and want to keep it. We have options for all customer needs, from the big-button phone designed specifically for seniors by Doro out of Sweden, up to the latest smartphones by LG and Samsung.”
For Marick, the most intriguing elements in wireless technology is the notion of virtually limitless possibilities.
“Basically, we all use smartphones as hand-held computers. The next logical steps are venturing into mobile health and wellness applications and it’s really exciting to see where things go from here. It’s changing so fast. By concentration on a 50-plus market, they’re not the early adopters for phones so it allows us to sit back and watch how the market evolves and choose accordingly.”
What does John Marick like best about the communications industry he’s dedicated more than a quarter century to?
‘For me, it’s all the great people I’ve been able to work with,” he said. “We have a common goal. The business is constantly changing and were continually trying to figure how to better meet our customer’s needs and that’s been truly exciting and is what sets Consumer Cellular apart. We’re having fun and enjoying what we do and are looking forward to seeing how far we can take this.”
www.consumercellular.com 800-686-4460.
