Professional Profile – Mike Brenneman
If there’s one thing Schooley Mitchell’s Mike Brenneman knows, it’s that it takes a lot of time, energy and focus to run a business and many business owners are too busy to manage their telecom services effectively.
“It’s such a rapidly changing environment that it really takes someone dedicated to the industry full time to understand and identify the best services available to meet the business’ needs,” explained the Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based Optimization Specialist
Brenneman has a long history of promoting effective business development and has ample past experience working as a sales account manager and business development manager of various companies.
As an Optimization Specialist, Brenneman says that his favourite parts of the job are the interactions with his clients.
“I enjoy building relationships with clients and the rewarding feeling that comes when the client really begins to trust me with their telecom needs,” he said.
In Brenneman’s time as a consultant with Schooley Mitchell, he’s found that there are many companies that are overspending by sizeable amounts simply due to optimized systems and billing errors. On average Schooley Mitchell reduces these expenses by 28 percent and often locates billing errors that can lead to sizeable cost refunds and cost savings when corrected.
One example Brenneman recalls was when he worked with a real estate brokerage with five different offices across his county.
“They had a big, tangled mess of landline and internet services and received 14 monthly bills in total,” he said. “I was able to consolidate that down to only six bills per month. We saved them 50 percent in the process.”
He also has an eye for trends, such as that of businesses switching from copper wire landlines to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) around Lancaster County. In Brenneman’s opinion, communication is key and one of the biggest professional challenges he faces is prospective clients failing to see the urgency of optimizing their systems early on. The quicker it’s done, the more they save. Above all, Brenneman values honesty, integrity and swift response in his work.
“I like to measure response time in minutes, not hours or days,” he said.
Brenneman is a self-described workaholic who labors every day to build his business, acquire more clients and quickly and efficiently solve problems for the clients he already has.
In his spare time, he manages six apartment units in his neighborhood that he owns with his wife. He is also a proud member of a local Business Network International chapter, as well as a member of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Schooley Mitchell is the largest independent telecom consulting organization in North America. They provide personalized services and expertise in all areas of telecom and have delivered over $240 million in documented savings to their clients.
