All our customers know that when it comes to good service, Simpatico’s Sales Director Dave Spittlehouse puts great emphasis on a people-first approach.

Whether you’re buying one business telephone – or quite a lot more – your experience will always be consistent.

But what else makes Dave tick? We found out by asking him a series of questions on his role, the industry and what he likes to do when he’s not talking about telecoms.

Tell us a bit about your role

I’m one of three directors in the business and mainly look after the sales. My focus has always been on building relationships with customers and growing our client base.

Tell us a bit more about your experience within the telecoms sector

I’ve been in the industry for 25 years in total. I used to run six retail shops across Yorkshire working on my own and have also worked with a leading supplier too. I’ve seen the sector from a few different viewpoints and have seen plenty of change.

What is the best advice you would give clients in the current market?

 My advice is always to encourage customers to look at the mid to lower range of the market. Smartphones these days are so good and the technology has evolved so much that the phones in this part of the market have really improved. It means customers can get value and a device which still does exactly what they need.

What is the key trend you are seeing emerge in the market?

 It’s all about data. People use their phones to do everything and this means data is a massive consideration in contracts.

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing the industry at present?

 I don’t want to tempt fate but I do think that the telecoms industry is pretty recession proof. There is however a lot of competition out there now, especially from the big supermarket chains who obviously have huge buying power, but they don’t provide the level of support for businesses, so that’s where we add value.

What do you think the key to success within business is?

 It’s quite simple really – speaking to people and networking. Our business is built around that philosophy. Simpatico went live at the start of 2017 and in a relatively short period of time we have grown to have more than 500 customers and 80 per cent of that has come from networking.

What do you think makes Simpatico a provider of choice to work with?

 Part of our brand is about being nice people and we think this goes a long way. We focus on the human side of service. The industry is heavily populated by call centre operations but for us it’s about the personal touch. We pride ourselves on our customer service levels and treat customers with one handset the same as those with 1,600.

 What are your interests outside of work?

I absolutely love photography and because of how good the cameras are on the iPhone I get some brilliant shots. I also really like travelling and so often combine both hobbies. I’ve just recently got back from a trip Australia and on the way back I went to the Singapore Grand Prix as I’m trying to visit all the Formula 1 tracks around the world.