Case 1: wrong shipment, late, from a company from whom his wife has often bought. Worse: no calls returned.

Case 2: Capital One, the credit card company with a huge ad budget, not returning calls about adding more cards! In Johnson’s words, “I’d be more productive trying to hoist the goods from Fort Knox.” What’s in your to-do list, Capital One?

Commenters drive home the takeaways. Richard Turcott, Chief Marketing Officer of Ratepoint, says

Healthy businesses focus on delivering a great experience to their customers, an experience that their customers will be delighted with and want to talk about. Marketing, support and product quality all influence customer experience…

And commenter Tim Orr adds

This is exactly what Emerson meant when he said, “What you are shouts so loudly I cannot hear what you say.” …Marketing and branding are an inside job.

Hey, marketing execs: is bad service slashing the results of your outreach, while you get blamed?

(p.s. For a sweet postscript, three weeks later Johnson notes that the opposite happened when his wife’s bracelet broke. Nice.)

Kelley Kassa
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image Credit: InMagine RDS032354

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.

Self-service appointment scheduling software easily enhances customer service. The result? Happier customers and more efficient and effective customer service.

Kelley Kassa
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image Credit: InMagine PAA161000019

Here are some top benefits for personal service providers:

• Expanded hours for scheduling appointments. Most salons are open five days a week; three to four weekdays and one to two weekend days. Clients who call on a closed day to schedule an appointment will need to call back on a day when the business is open. Loyal customers will. New customers may just call another salon. With appointment scheduling software, clients can go online whenever convenient for them, and book their appointments.
• Fewer missed appointments. When clients miss appointments, businesses lose revenue. With scheduling software, the beauty salon can automatically set up appointment reminder emails.
• Greater efficiency = more clients serviced. Some personal services require a set block of time. For example, a massage is usually 60 or 90 minutes. Other services, such as hair coloring, can vary in time based on the client’s requirements, individual practitioner and number of concurrent appointments. With a scheduling software solution in place, the salon owner can get information on average times for appointments by various factors (day, stylist, etc.) and use that information to maximize the number of appointments per day.

Kelley Kassa
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image Credit: InMagine FAN2034838

Recent posts on consultant High Scalability.com’s website and that of software company 37Signals describe interviews with Amazon.com’s Chief Technical Officer and the writings of early company employees on the secrets of the company’s success.

Amazon.com has embraced technology – that great multiplier of all things good and bad – as a way to provide the best possible experience for its customers.   Here are some of the things the company does to use that technology to redefine that customer experience:

• Software developers spend time with customer service so they understand what customers want.
• If you build it, you run it. That means direct contact with customers.
• Measure. Test. Change. Repeat. Don’t guess about something if you can measure it.
• Your customers will tell you what they do and don’t like. Listen to them.
• Innovation comes from the bottom. People closest to a problem are the best ones to solve it.
• Keep groups small and empower them to solve problems as they see fit.
• Stuff fails.  Learn to fix it when it does.

In an interview posted on GoodExperience.com, Maryam Mohit, Amazon’s V.P. Of Site Development notes that passion about customer service flows through everyone’s veins at Amazon.com.  When asked for the secret of Amazon’s success, she replied “I wish I knew.  I do think that the relentless focus on creating a great experience has to be part of it.  It’s not just a great experience on the website, because we think about it as a 360 degree experience, which includes what happens after you click to order.  What’s the experience of waiting for the order to arrive, of getting the box, what happens if something goes wrong?  Each of those is part of the customer experience.”

Rich Silverman
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image Credit: InMagine RDS106306

In both 2005 and 2006, Mercedes ranked #8 in the same survey, due in part to poor survey results from both Consumer Reports and J.D. Power.  According to Automotive Fleet.com, Mercedes launched a worldwide initiative three years ago aimed at improving customer satisfaction.   The car maker made a concerted effort to improve the quality of its cars, implementing an “intensive, continual and long-term” training program for employees.   To date more than 150,000 Mercedes service-department employees have been through the training.  The company climbed to #6 in 2007, #4 in 2008 and finally to its current #1 spot.

For a manufacturer, quality or resale value may be the key this year, price or dealer incentives the next.   But for any service-based business, the convenience, speed and ease with which customers can use a company will always be of paramount importance.

Rich Silverman
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image Credit: InMagine U23209699

• Lifetouch Portrait Studios, which operates more than 700 Target and JCPenney photography studios, surveyed customers and found ease of online scheduling is the #1 guest “satisfier” for their business.
• Another international portrait studio chain, with 3,100 retail locations, used online scheduling to reduce costly call volumes by 23%.
• Ritz Camera has realized a significant drop in customer no-shows, which they attribute to online appointment scheduling with automated appointment confirmations.
• Petco, which offers pet grooming services in addition to products, offers customers online appointment scheduling, enabling the pet grooming specialists to focus on customer service, not administrative scheduling.
• David’s Bridal chose online scheduling software to smooth traffic at peak service times.
• Janovic, a subsidiary of Benjamin Moore, provides in-home custom window treatments.  With online scheduling software, Janovic has streamlined the scheduling process and allows the company to better track the locations of their installers.

These retailers demonstrate the significant benefits of online appointment scheduling software. And they’re all TimeTrade customers. For more information, see our customers page and our case studies.

The biggest benefit of all could be repeat business from happy, satisfied customers.

Kelley Kassa
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image Credit: InMagine AM11021008098

It is worth noting that the iPhone – which can only be used with AT&T right now – was the highest-rated phone in the survey with 98% of users saying they would buy it again despite having to use AT&T.  Given this dissatisfaction with AT&T service, questions are already being raised about what will happen to AT&T when its exclusive deal with Apple ends, or another company offers the next top contender.

The takeaway from this is that having the hottest new product or a more attractive price than a competitor can only take you as far as your customer service record.  If long wait times, poor scheduling and misinformation are the overriding theme, the shiny new product can really only hold a consumer’s loyalty until they can get the next new and better thing.  Something to ponder, indeed.

Rich Silverman
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image Credit: PTG00462034

Let’s look at who’s using the software:

Retail
• Petco
• David’s Bridal
• Various photography and portrait studios

Government
• New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission
• Homeland Security
• Federal Law Enforcement Training Center

Health Care
• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
• Berkeley Heart Lab
• Zix Corporation

This list demonstrates a few things:

1. Appointment scheduling software is used by businesses of all sizes, from national retailers such as Petco and David’s Bridal to regional health care service providers such as Berkeley Heart Lab.  Any business that has customer appointments to fill can benefit from appointment scheduling software.
2. Technology to improve customer care can also be used by organizations that do not traditionally have “customers.” Organizations such as New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, Homeland Security and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center may not have customers per se, but they do have significant needs for streamlining processes and minimizing the amount of time people wait for their services.
3. Appointment scheduling software is not just about minimizing waiting times for customers.  It can also be used for maximizing the efficiency of an organization’s employees. For example, Zix Corporation is a technology provider using appointment scheduling to book sales calls into physician’s offices.  This is truly a unique approach to improved customer care by using technology to adapt to how their customers (physicians) plan their day.

Kelley Kassa
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image Credit: AXS008087

Google “busy lives” or “time management techniques” and you get endless tips to manage more in less time.  From Franklin Covey to the local organizing specialist, options abound to deal with lengthy to-do lists. What if service providers became part of the solution?

There’s an easy way to do this: let customers self-schedule appointments.  Not only does it give greater flexibility in matching your open appointments with customers’ calendars, it lets both you and the customer avoid multiple phone calls, waiting on hold, and other nuisances.

We think self-service scheduling will soon be an expected service.  Busy moms, business travelers, executive assistants, and night-owls all want to manage appointments on their own time, at their convenience.

Kelley Kassa
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image Credit: InMagine PE0063738

A good customer survey that reflects your particular business and customer base can be more challenging to write than it would first appear.  Thankfully, a number of resources are available online.  For instance, Susan Ward over at About.com has put together a sample questionnaire that can help stimulate ideas for creating your own effective survey.  Or, for a step-by-step approach to writing a customer satisfaction survey, check out Christina Hamlett’s contribution at eHow.

Then it’s just a matter of getting it to your customers and encouraging them to respond.  Then listen to what they say, so you can make real improvements to customer care that will produce real results.

David Hill
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image credit: InMagine PCRF006883