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.

Whether a business’s target client is a stay-at-home mom or a corporate executive, few customers have the time or patience to place calls during office hours, to make or change an appointment.  And few businesses can afford to staff up for appointment scheduling after hours.  Appointment scheduling software, available 24×7, lets customers schedule appointments on their time.  That’s convenience you can’t put a price on.

These benefits extend beyond scheduling an appointment.

• With appointment scheduling software, businesses can schedule any number of customer interactions, including
  • meetings
  • personal services
  • online chats
  • phone calls
  • online meetings, and more.
• They can make sure the same customer representative works with the customer, delivering a more personal approach to customer care.  A single point of contact means the representative can understand the customers’ issues better and develop a rapport with the customer.

Operationally, automation allows analyzing the number of requests/calls per customer (and even per issue), push customer interactions to those that are more operationally efficient (online versus in-person), and overall, take a more sophisticated approach to managing customer interaction.

Kelley Kassa
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image Credit: InMagine PE0063082

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!

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.”

The lesson here is that customers do not merely schedule an appointment for service, they also make a reservation for priority level care and commitment from the company.  Customers perform a courtesy to the business by scheduling the appointment, and they expect to receive the same level of courtesy extended to them by employees.

Other key findings include:

• More than 30% of people who visit a business expect instant attention.
• Consumers rated walk-in services as impersonal, crowded and rushed — overall a poorer experience.

Combined with personal courtesy, appointment scheduling software can be a doorway to improving customer loyalty.  Listen to customers, and find the right balance.

Lisa Letchworth
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image credit: InMagine TSS0050854

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:

• Federal, state and local government agencies rely on appointment scheduling software to gain better control over scheduling processes and to improve resource utilization throughout operations and programs.
• Higher education institutions reduce administrative costs and provide better service to students.
• With appointment scheduling software, Human Resources departments can better manage the high volume of applicants in today’s highly competitive job market.
• Large retail organizations with many retail locations, broad service offerings, complex business rules and high transaction volumes are realizing higher revenues, better customer service and more effective marketing.
• Financial Services firms smooth demand and promote efficient utilization of resources with appointment scheduling software.

Kelley Kassa
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image credit: InMagine INGSELFS0352

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.

But no-shows can be minimized and customer retention improved with automated reminders. This technology can dissuade customers from missing appointments or failing to notify of a change which in turn makes it easier for no show fees to remain intact.

Here’s how: reminders can be set up in appointment software to notify customers in the medium of their choice – email, text message, or phone call – within a certain time frame before their appointment. This lets the customer remember to prioritize the appointment, or at least brings it to mind in the midst of competing commitments.

In conjunction with a clearly stated no-show policy, about which customers are clearly aware, reminders help the customer recall the cost for missing an appointment.  This is often incentive enough for customers to pick up the phone to reschedule, but it also lets them know that it’s about time and commitment, not just money.  And it helps the customer see that the business is doing what it can to provide what the customer asked for.

Appointment reminders are part of a larger strategy to improve customer retention and minimize losses caused by no shows.  And for just that reason, now the NHS is implementing reminders. It’s good business.

David Hill
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image credit:  InMagine PDEP054036

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

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:

• Amusement Parks
• Airports, airlines
• ER, doctors offices, medical clinics
• Government Agencies: DMV, post office, border crossings, customs and immigration (see the Ellis Island photo above)
• Banks

Consumers have plenty of choices: travel to a different amusement park, change banks, perhaps choose a different airport or airline.  In the case of medical providers, customers can vote with their feet by simply switching doctors, hospitals and clinics. For government agencies you may not have a choice.  If they don’t offer online services or appointments, bring some entertainment (book, magazine, 3G-enabled mobile device, video game) while you wait … and wait … and wait!

Kelley Kassa
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image credit: NYPL Digital Gallery on Flickr

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?

Furthermore, using appointment software allows you to set up periodic meetings with co-workers.  This means you can better manage your business relationships, which translates into met deadlines and improved rapport with colleagues.  It also eliminates the over-dependence on email and allows for face-to-face interactions which are rarer, and often more valued, in the digital age.

Finally, using online appointment software won’t involve installing any software on an office computer.  Notifying an employer or the IT department that you will be routinely accessing appointment software online will ensure that you also won’t get blocked by a web filter.  Additionally, it means that you can access the software wherever you go, including your mobile phone.

Downsizing has become so common it shouldn’t come as a surprise that managers are constantly being asked to evaluate their teams to identify the weakest link, and potentially the next to be let go should a RIF become necessary.  While there are no certainties, one thing is sure.  Strengthening your job security with online appointment software has one additional benefit: you’ll be amazed at how much you accomplish.

David Hill
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image credit:  InMagine ISPC018002

• 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

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