Customer stories


GM Voices

Voice to the World

You've heard them everywhere -- on courtesy phones and in information booths, on voice mail systems and over the web. They're those crisp, professional voices telling you to choose from the following menu, to enter your access code, to click on the icon to proceed. And they always remember to say 'thank you.'

Who are they? Where do they come from? For many companies, the answer is GM Voices -- a firm specializing in the production of professional-quality voice tracks for commercial and industrial use. And GM Voices keeps track of these tracks with help from FileMaker Pro -- the award winning database software application from FileMaker Inc.

GM Voices takes on a difficult task, and does it well. Each week, the company produces, edits, and distributes thousands of studio-quality voice recordings in English and other languages, to clients in twenty nations around the world. Keeping track of all of those clients is no small job -- all the contacts, all the letters, all the faxes, all the meetings -- all have to be carefully documented to ensure that the client gets the best possible service. Small wonder that FileMaker Pro has been in use at GM Voices for more than a decade.

'I first used FileMaker in 1989 to replace the index cards I had spread across my desk,' recalls GM Voices president Marcus Graham. 'I knew the ability to keep track of my customer contacts was critical to my success and realized that FileMaker could handily allow me to make 'electronic versions' of my client index cards. I purchased FileMaker then, and went about creating the various templates I needed to provide more and more information management capabilities. I looked at the contract management systems of the early '90s, like ACT and Goldmine and was always underwhelmed at their lack of flexibility.'

FileMaker proved an ideal fit for Marcus, and for several years, he went along using the system just as it comes from the box, designing his own templates as needed. Eventually, though, he turned to developer Steve Shiver to help refine his system for maximum efficiency -- and when Steve developed the FileMaker-based 'SafariGuide' contact management software package, GM Voices began one of the first companies to take advantage of its expanded capabilities.

SafariGuide takes full advantage of FileMaker's relational capabilities, combining activity management, customer relationship management, order entry and production management -- and is now used throughout GM Voices for keeping up to date with clients, preparing project proposals, taking orders, and seeing to it that those orders are processed and shipped out correctly.

And the efficiency shows. Notes Marcus, 'Over 90 per cent of our inbound calls are 'one call' customer contacts because the sales or customer service rep can access the information they need immediately.'

You've probably heard GM Voices voices yourself, somewhere in your business life. But next time, listen closely -- you can hear them say 'FileMaker means success!'



Contact information

Contact Info for Customer:

Marcus Graham
President
GM Voices, Inc.
770-752-4550
mgraham@gmvoices.com


Steve Shiver
President
VisionLed Inc.
706-769-3377
consulting@visionled.com


Filemaker Contact:

Kevin Mallon
Public Relations Manager
FileMaker Inc.
408-987-7227
kevin_mallon@filemaker.com
http://www.filemaker.com


Overview
  • You're hearing voices -- on courtesy phones, in information booths, on voice mail systems and over the Web -- and they're coming from GM Voices. Each week, GM Voices produces, edits, and distributes thousands of multi-lingual voice recordings to clients worldwide. GM Voices relies on FileMaker Pro to manage activities, customers, project proposals, orders, production, and more.
Industry
  • Creative Services
  • Creative Markets
  • Small Business