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Category Archives: appointment scheduling software

02/09
2010

Turn These Business Resolutions Into Reality

New Years Resolutions for 2010 150x150 photo (appointment scheduling software)New Year’s Resolutions we’ve collected for doing business in 2010:
I resolve to… improve the overall experience of my customers.
I resolve to… reduce my administrative costs.
I resolve to… smooth out the peaks and valleys in my business cycle.
I resolve to…keep better track of customers and employees.
I resolve to…reduce the amount of time my customers spend waiting.
I resolve to…reduce the number of appointment no shows.
I resolve to…reduce the number of abandoned calls.
I resolve to…spend more time with customers.
I resolve to…keep more of my customers.

For the past two years businesses have dug in, deepened the trenches, reduced staff and cut costs to the bone. Now, in 2010, economic progress reports suggest the time is coming to start building and growing again.

But you don’t need to hire new employees or add a lot of costly equipment to turn these resolutions into realities. Every one of them has been attained by real companies using web-based appointment scheduling software. Read their stories in our case study library, and then make some resolutions for your own business in 2010.

Rich Silverman
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Public domain Image by Ivan Akira courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

02/05
2010

What’s Wrong with Manual Appointment Scheduling?

onhold photo (appointment scheduling software)Appointment scheduling the old-fashioned way can easily turn into a hassle for both the customer and the service provider. 

Customers want convenience: a quick process to book an appointment that matches their schedule.

Service providers want bookings, as many as possible. But the busier you get, the harder it is to take time to take calls.

Continue reading »

02/04
2010

Personal Service Providers: Make Life Easier On Yourself – Let Customers Schedule Themselves

spa1 photo (appointment reminder)Hair Salons and Day Spas – regardless of size – need appointment scheduling software. The “needs” test is not based on the size of the business, but the volume of business. Busy salons and spas can enhance customer service while also increasing efficiency.

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02/03
2010

Appointment Scheduling Software Reduces Errors

Photo - Telephone SwitchboardThere will always be people who want to schedule appointments by talking to a live person. They can ask questions, tell the scheduler a cute story about why they are making an appointment or just have a nice conversation with a fellow human being.  But a large and growing group of people want the 24/7 convenience offered by online scheduling software. Both types can be satisfied with online appointment scheduling.

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01/22
2010

New: Increase Sales Productivity with TimeDriver for Salesforce

Now Available on the Salesforce.com AppExchange

We’ve often talked about TimeDriver, our personal appointment scheduler, which was recently named Hot Selling Tool of the Month by sales guru Nancy Nardin. Great news: TimeDriver is now available on the AppExchange, for use in the Salesforce CRM system.

TD Logo 1 Full Color on LT bkgrd 2.5in CS2 300dpi photo (timedriver)TimeDriver improves sales productivity: it helps you get more confirmed appointments – and saves you the time-consuming hassle of appointment ping pong too. More appointments mean more sales and more sales mean more money.

How do we know TimeDriver produces more confirmed appointments?  We did a controlled “A/B test” comparing an email with a TimeDriver schedule button to an email that asks people to propose a few times when they are available for a call and found that the TimeDriver button delivered 56% more confirmed meetings!

It gets even better.  Now, if you’re using Salesforce as part of your arsenal of sales productivity tools you can easily connect it with TimeDriver. Get started by downloading your free TimeDriver for Salesforce tool from AppExchange.  It’s an enhancement to TimeDriver that enables your sales team and others to easily invite customers and prospects to schedule time for sales demos, account reviews, and other interactions.

Appointments flow into your Salesforce, Google, or Outlook calendar. And, all TimeDriver appointments are automatically logged in Salesforce as events, associated with the invited leads and contacts. Possible uses include:

  • Sales professionals can drive more appointments, generate more revenue and advance customers in the sales process more quickly
  • Technical support and customer service can settle on client appointment times with none of the usual back-and-forth negotiation.
  • Everyone (including customers) saves time and eliminates frustration because there’s never any phone tag or email tag to set an appointment. Invite. Click. Done.

As always, we’d love to hear what you think.  So leave us a comment or send us a Tweet (@TimeDriver).

As we said, Nancy Nardin of Smart Selling Tools thinks TimeDriver is so hot, she named it hot tool of the month!  And, in her new sales productivity ebook she called it “extremely easy to use and addicting.”

Addicting: how’s that for praise?? See for yourself – take TimeDriver for Salesforce for a test drive.

01/13
2010

On-Line Appointment Market Looks to Grow, TimeTrade Gets Set To Grow With It

Photo of Ed MallenThe on-line appointment scheduling market is beginning to take off, says TimeTrade Systems CEO Ed Mallen in a story recently published in MassHighTech.com.

“The switch will be like banks going to ATMs,” Mallen says.  “It’s a very natural play to begin to have consumers be able to make their appointments over the web and be satisfied that when they get there the resource is going to be ready, willing and able.”

TimeTrade, a market maker in on-line appointment scheduling since its founding in 1999, has its sights set on that $5-$8 billion market opportunity, according to Mallen.

Continue reading »

01/06
2010

Fight Back Against Online Merchants: Offer Online Customer Service in a 24/7 World

24hours2 photo (appointment scheduling software)In a 24/7 world, how can brick-and-mortar businesses compete with “always open” online merchants? By offering everything they can do online.

  • A national portrait studio chain offers online appointment scheduling.  Result: more than 20% of their business comes in while they’re closed. (That’s a 25% increase. What would you do to boost business 25%??)
  • Sprint uses TimeTrade to let you self-schedule advanced support for your smartphone, 24/7. Imagine: no more queues – no lines, no waiting!
  • Sonora Quest lets patients schedule quick appointments for blood tests etc. Result: 22,000 people a month self-schedule. They all get seen within five minutes – and think how much staff time would be needed to schedule those appointments manually.

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12/30
2009

The Benefits of Online Scheduling Software for the Retail Industry

sale photo (appointment reminder)Smart retailers differentiate themselves with superior customer service.  Storefront “greeters” and personal shoppers help; here are some real-life examples of the unique blend of superior customer service  and cost-saving offered by online appointment scheduling:

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12/22
2009

Customer Care Goes High Tech With Appointment Scheduling Software

calender photo (appointment scheduling software)While some may think that automated technology diminishes customer service, the opposite can be true.  Appointment scheduling software has actually been proven to help businesses streamline processes and deliver better customer service.

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12/16
2009

TimeDriver: “Better Service, Better Price – Brilliant!”

Karin WitzigWe don’t often use this space to crow, but this time we gotta: here’s a great piece by “Marketing Materials Maven” Karin Witzig. For two years she’s used a competing product, and yesterday she updated her blog post because she’s switched to TimeDriver.

She starts out talking about her previous experience, then tells how happy she is with TimeDriver.

New Online Scheduling Software – Beats All the Rest

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