“Many restaurants are using devices like alert pages, but those are limiting to patrons,” said Josh Bob, founder and president, Textaurant.  “You really can’t go far from the restaurant.  Essentially, your time spent waiting for your table is lost, since you can’t spend it as you wish.  What business wants to waste their customers’ time?”

Overly long waiting times are not just an issue for large chain restaurants.  Even the small, trendy local restaurant will experience waiting times of more than 30 minutes.  And as a report from Cornell’s Center for Hospitality Research notes, customers “take a dim view of waiting” for a table.

The study recommends restaurants “that continue with seating from a first-come, first-served waitlist should consider ways to empower guests…”  One way to do that is a beeper service like Textaurant, or for other business, appointment scheduling from TimeTrade.

“Customers want more freedom and flexibility,” continues Bob.  “Combine that with the fact that 98% of phones sold today have texting capabilities, and it’s a natural match for restaurants that want to change how they handle customers waiting for tables.  Once we add voice mail and email capability to the system, we’ll have something that everyone with a mobile phone can use.”

Textaurant took an existing, aggravating and stressful business problem and applied an innovative solution to enhancing customer service.  And, it’s not just about improving customer service; it’s also about improving the bottom line.  According to Bob, restaurants using Textaurant’s service are seeing reductions in no-shows for reservations and decreases in customers opting to not wait for a table.

The Cornell study claims “anything that can be done to reduce perceived waiting time [regardless of industry] should result in an increase in customer satisfaction.”  Sounds like a great business reason to innovate customer waiting processes and procedures.   Just like Textaurant.

Kelley Kassa
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image Credit: InMagine TT0701816

Manual scheduling always presents the potential for human error – maybe the date will be wrong or the time, or the provider or loan officer or location.  The possibility also remains that the moment an employee is finally trained to correctly schedule appointments, he or she will leave to pursue other opportunities.

Scheduling errors can have a resounding impact – delayed medical treatment, extra transportation costs, wasted time and money and a lingering sense that the business isn’t very well organized. The cost could run the gamut from lost revenue to a vocally unhappy customer to potential legal liability.

Using online appointment scheduling software can reduce the potential for those costs because it’s the customer who makes the appointment. While a Web calendar can’t listen with a sympathetic ear, it also won’t schedule a Tuesday afternoon appointment for Wednesday.

The core group of customers who prefer to call can still do so, and let office staff book the appointment in the system.  But the likelihood of human error is lower, because the software  is designed to make the process simple and easy.

Rich Silverman
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Photo by Joseph A. Carr under Attribution License Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

• 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.

24/7 online appointment scheduling provides dual benefits.

• Broaden your customer base by being accessible when you’re closed. Fill appointments and increase revenue without hiring additional staff or paying overtime.
• And customers can tackle their to-dos when it’s convenient, not just when the business is open. Great customer service!

Few brick-and-mortar businesses are open round the clock; online retailers are. This “digital divide” in service hours can be a competitive problem, but it’s possible to fight back, closing the deal when 9–5 businesses are closed.

Kelley Kassa
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image Credit: InMagine TT0600456

• 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

Here are seven signs that it’s time to get the next generation of appointment schedulers:

1. You’re finding that Outlook is just not cutting it anymore

Some might believe that Outlook (or another personal information manager) can do it all, but unfortunately, it is not specifically designed as an appointment scheduler.  If you find yourself wishing that Outlook could do more with appointments for your team, it’s time to migrate to powerful, dedicated scheduling software.

2. You and your staff are strapped to using it on a single computer

It can be a poor use of resources to have one person function as the go-to for group scheduling, not to mention frustrating if one must wait for that person to do his or her job in order for you to do yours.  Modern appointment software is web or server-based, allowing multiple points of access over a network, which are updated real-time.

3.  You need support but whoever wrote the software is long gone

There are plenty of free appointment schedulers you can download, but if you ever run into a problem don’t expect support, especially if the software is older.  Many of these free programs are available because the company is dead or the programmer has moved on.  If you need support, you need a live company that can provide customer service for help with your software.

4.  You have to page through the calendar for an open appointment time

The days of flipping through paper-based appointment books are supposed to be gone. However, if your scheduler doesn’t allow for a variety of search tools you may be forced relive the experience, paging through obsolete data to find what you are looking for.

5.  You upgrade your operating system and the software won’t work

New operating systems or upgrades are standard in computer use, but they are supposed to make your computer work better, not break it.  Many outdated programs will simply cease working after an upgrade, and if you run into compatibility problems with your scheduler, it’s definitely time to consider online scheduling software that is independent of the operating system used.

6.  You spend lots of time answering basic questions from customers

When making an appointment, customer inquiries are usually welcomed as they reflect genuine interest in your business.  However, you shouldn’t have to spend 10+ minutes explaining the basics of your business over the phone.  If you switch to a web-based appointment scheduler, many FAQ’s can be easily answered while customers make their appointments.

7.  You know nothing about the customer when they walk in the door for their appointment

New customers have often done a little preliminary research before making an appointment with your company. In kind, it can go a long way towards customer retention to have some basic details about your customer in-hand when meeting with them.  If customers are requested to answer a few simple questions online during the appointment scheduling process, you may have the vital information your business needs to create a return customer before they even walk in the door.

David Hill
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image credit: InMagine TT1400064

An estimated 2 million people flew in the U.S. on the day before Thanksgiving.  On this, the busiest travel day of the year, people are reminded of all the hassles, challenges and inefficiency of air travel.

One significant trend in the air travel industry is the adoption of appointment scheduling for internal and regulatory processes.  Both the FAA and Toronto rely on appointment scheduling software.

The FAA offers 24/7 self-service scheduling for new FAA staff to get the credentials required by U.S. Homeland Security.

The Greater Toronto Airport Authority also turned to appointment scheduling software to manage its security credentials process.

These efforts address internal efficiencies, but point to a larger awareness: the air travel industry understands people dislike waiting.

Most airlines already have self-service check-in kiosks that provide better customer service and are more efficient.  It’s only a matter of time before more internal efficiencies like those adopted by the FAA and Greater Toronto Airport Authority begin to alleviate the pains of air travel.

Kelley Kassa
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image Credit: InMagine JUICD035062

One recent example is the City of Boston.  In a leap towards efficiency, citizen empowerment, and harnessing technology for better customer service, Boston has launched an iPhone application for municipal complaints.

With Boston’s Citizen Connect, iPhones turn into self-service reporting tools. Bostonians can send in photos of potholes, dark street lights and other municipal issues. The benefits are numerous, including  better efficiency in reporting issues. And with iPhone’s GPS function, the city gets an exact location of the issue. That’s a smart use of automation.

Boston’s iPhone app is a great example of adding online self-service to existing phone hotline options.  Even if you’re unprepared to collaborate with a giant like Apple, studies have shown that other online self-service options can increase yields and higher service revenue by as much as 20 to 40 percent.  You do the math.

Kelley Kassa
TimeTrade Blogging Team

Image Credit: InMagine RDS104113

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

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

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