No Lines, No Waiting
Bringing service to the fore while conserving your cash
2009
Enhancing Customer Experience with Online Scheduling
Sometimes it seems customer care improvement is at odds with streamlining operations. Financial Services Technology made the point beautifully with a script for an imaginary TV commercial about a surgeon who calls a helpline and gets put on hold: one humorous example of how some technologies make businesses choose between customer care and efficiency. Voice mail is another example of this; how many customers like reaching a voice mail tree?
But there are other technologies that deliver both improved customer care and operational efficiencies. Appointment scheduling software is one great example. Hard ROI numbers aside (and there are plenty of them), appointment scheduling software gives businesses the flexibility to work with customers when most convenient for the customer.
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Filed under: appointment scheduling, appointment scheduling software, customer service
Tagged: appointment scheduler improve customer service, appointment scheduling, appointment scheduling software, customer care, customer experience, customer satisfaction, customer service, efficiency, improve customer service, interactive features, online scheduling
2009
Meet leading Sales & Marketing authors at Dreamforce and get a free autographed book!
TimeTrade is an avid (award-winning!) user of Salesforce.com, the cloud-based CRM system that’s changed the world of sales and marketing.
This week at Dreamforce, the global Salesforce.com mega-conference, we’re showing a slick integration of TimeDriver with interactive video from Visible Gains. And to promote it, we’re bringing two hot authors to our booth, and they’re giving away autographed copies of their books – a limited number, so get there early.
Details:
6:00 Wednesday: Oracle sales legend Anneke Seley
Anneke Seley was the twelfth employee at Oracle and the designer of OracleDirect, the company’s revolutionary inside sales operation. Now, with co-author Brent Holloway, she’s written Sales 2.0: Improve Business Results Using Innovative Sales Practices and Technology.
The first 25 visitors Wednesday night will get a free autographed copy.
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1:00 Thursday: B2B Marketing Strategist Ardath Albee
Ardath Albee is a B2B Marketing Strategist. Her company Marketing Interactions helps companies with complex sales and with quantifying marketing effectiveness by using interactive e-marketing strategies driven by compelling content.
The first 25 visitors after 1:00 pm will get a free autographed copy of her new book, eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale. It’s a comprehensive guide that helps marketers drive decisions to buy in their favor.
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TimeDriver and Visible Gains — Booth 11
While you’re there, see how to kick up your response rate with Personalized Interactive Video from Visible Gains, with instant-action “Schedule Now” TimeDriver links built right in. See it work!
Filed under: online scheduling integration
Tagged: Anneke Seley, Ardath Albee, Dreamforce, Salesforce.com
2009
Appointment Scheduling Software + Personal Courtesy = Customer Satisfaction
Appointment scheduling software helps maintain customer loyalty through automation, so employees can focus on the personal courtesy side of good service.
An appointment is a reservation for service, both the service performed by the business and the personal attention received from employees. A satisfied customer needs to feel both aspects of customer care are handled well.
A Beagle Research White Paper, Improving Service Businesses with Appointment Scheduling, illustrates this. The CRM analyst firm found that “significant numbers of people believe that appointments should start exactly when or very near when they are scheduled — with virtually no waiting at all.”
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2009
Five Growing Markets For Appointment Scheduling Software
I like having an appointment, and I hate waiting. Both my doctor’s office and day spa get this and thus have appointment scheduling software to serve and satisfy customers like me.
However, such software is also being used in other markets on an increasing scale. Here’s a look at five vertical markets that are rapidly adopting appointment scheduling, and why appointment scheduling software makes sense for them:
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2009
Get a Customer Retention Boost – and Save Money – with Appointment Reminder Software
Customers can have a variety of reasons for missing an appointment. We’re busy, life happens, we’re disorganized. The impact of no shows can vary from an annoyance to monumental financial losses. For instance, a recent report from the UK revealed that patient no shows for hospital appointments alone cost the National Health Services (NHS) close to a billion dollars annually.
Money lost from no shows isn’t limited to health care. For years, airlines and hotels have charged no-show and change fees, but fees are increasing and the policies are becoming more widespread, at the cost of customer satisfaction. And satisfaction is the foundation of retention.
2009
Help!!! Our Customer Care Needs a Makeover
If you’re in a service industry such as a salon or spa that is heavily dependent on customer appointments, it may be time to seriously consider investing in appointment software that can provide customer reminders as part of customer care improvement.
The recent recession has hit the beauty industry hard, although recent signs indicate that the industry as a whole is improving: the Professional Beauty Association said in August that its new Salon/Spa Performance Index rose in the latest quarter. While things may be looking up, customers are more scrutinizing than ever and stretched thinner for time as they try to juggle all the demands in their lives.
Appointment reminders help customers be prompt, which contributes to their satisfaction with services as well as providing a calmer and more organized environment for everyone. In addition, it can help reduce the amount of cancellations and no-shows. A business that reaches out to help customers where they are shows them that you care about more than profits.
David Hill
TimeTrade Blogging Team
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jakecaptive/ / CC BY 2.0
2009
Five of the Worst Places to Wait in Line
Customers hate waiting in line. In fact, some organizations have waiting lines that evoke animosity before the customer even walks in the door. Which organizations are the worst offenders?
According to polls on Yelp, Yahoo! Answers and other Web sites, there are some common places where the wait is considered abysmal.
If they haven’t already done so, organizations on this list should make some changes – if they care:
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Filed under: customer retention, customer service
Tagged: customer retention, government, waiting
2009
Personal Appointment Software May Just Save Your Job
In the face of close to 10% U.S. unemployment, employees may be wondering what they can do to increase their value. Online appointment software may just be the answer. It is a tool to manage two resources that often are poorly handled: time and relationships. With more companies watching what employees do, it may be time to seriously consider a change in how you go about your job.
Setting appointments with online appointment software allows you to be organized with your time and communicates to others (including your boss) that both your time and the time of others is something that you value. Aren’t supervisors looking for employees who are focused, organized, efficient, and place a value on the company’s best interest?
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2009
The Risks of A Paper-Based Appointment Scheduler
For all its nostalgia, a paper-based appointment scheduler can also give an unprofessional appearance, and it carries risks:
- It can jeopardize customer privacy
- It may cause confusion if penmanship is obscure
- There is a chance, as some unfortunate people have learned, that it will be
- lost
- stolen
- used to scope out the business for a crime.
For some businesses, an appointment scheduler is vital to properly serve their customers, but a paper-based appointment book may involve too much risk to continue being used.
David Hill
TimeTrade Blogging Team
Image Credit: InMagine PDEP006052
2009
Going High-Tech Improves Customer Care: Don’t Be Left Behind
For businesses faced with mandatory cost reduction, the challenge is looking for ways to realize savings without compromising customer satisfaction.
Take a look at “Customer Service Champs”. This Business Week ranking of winning companies highlights companies working smarter in tough times. They’ve been successful in finding innovative ways to reduce costs while having minimal impact on customer service.
How are they doing it? Business Week devoted an entire issue to this topic, “Extreme Customer Service,” earlier this year.
- Maintain Customer Satisfaction. Balance employee cutbacks with the convenience of instant or self-service options for customers.
- Keep the Front Lines Strong. Forrester Research (FORR) reports about half of 90 large companies it surveyed are trying to avoid cuts to their customer service budgets.
- Push for Innovative Ideas. Forrester also recommends creative ideas that serve the customer. For example, try “proactive chat” software that engages buyers online. Another idea – Web communities where customers can help each other solve customer problems.
By implementing advanced customer service technology solutions now, businesses can position themselves ahead of the curve and do better than merely survive the recession.
Pamela Taylor & Lisa Letchworth
TimeTrade Blogging Team
Image credit: InMagine BCN54188
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