|
 | |
White PaperDo you have a problem keeping track of appointments? Obtaining the most productivity for your available time can be a tricky business. It is sometimes easy to become diverted and not stay on schedule or even worse, be forced to reschedule or delay an appointment commitment made previously with a client. This practice will result in bad will with clients and cause loss in production due to the unhappy nature of the client and time spent correcting the issue, or possibly even the loss of business from this client. The importance of staying on schedule and realistically forecasting the time necessary to do a certain service becomes evident. Many professionals underestimate the time necessary to do tasks. This is especially true for individuals and organizations that are new to a given task or service. It therefore becomes necessary to carefully evaluate the time necessary to do the task. This evaluation should be done in a variety of ways as follows:
2. Time studies: In the case of new services, this may be the only way to evaluate the time required. Software such as ClientMagic allows time dating of client check in invoices. When closing the invoice it is a simple matter to see when the client came in and the time now, the difference is the time it took. 3. Past time required: If an organization or individual on the average, exceeds the time allotted for a service, then the time value for this operation is insufficient. In many circumstances not enough time was allowed for getting the room ready, or communications with the client. 4. Printed resource literature: Many time studies are available on the internet projecting the amount of time necessary to do a service. If you Google "Time Studies" you will see several companies that have informational time studies. 5. Competitive observation: It does pay to go to a competitor and have the service performed by them. If you pay close attention to the time taken and their management of time, you can gain valuable insight into how your competition is structured. 6. Organization time consultant: Consultants are available that can assist you in structuring your pricing and time. Many organizations use this method in startup to insure their price points are competitive. 7. Adherence to a set schedule: It is very important for scheduling purposes to know when the service giver is available for an appointment. Many software programs allow time blocking for the time not available. In addition some software can offer Quick blocking features for emergency time off. Picking the right software for youAfter the prediction of the time necessary to do a service is obtained it then it should be a simple matter to structure and schedule appointments in the software. It is always best to add a little extra time for emergencies and human needs, such as food and or room cleaning to each appointment also.We found that the following features are desirable and available in the marketplace today in many software programs.
2. Service provider time linking: Not all service providers perform at the same speed, the software should have the ability to choose the time an individual service provider takes to do the service. 3. Service Exclusion: Not all service providers do all tasks in a typical organization. The ability to exclude or include a service provider from a service is highly desirable. 4. Billing linking: You should be able to directly link the appointment with one or more billing service items. Checking in a client should generate an invoice and put this invoice on hold for later review and checkout. 5. No Show identification and reporting: Good clients must be taught the importance of being on time and showing up when they make an appointment. The software should be able to easily mark and report on clients that are No shows. 6. Canceled Appointments: Cancelations should be less than ½ of 1% of your total appointments. The ability to mark these appointments as canceled with the reason why should be available as well as reporting on who has canceled and why. 7. Appointment Blocking: The software should have the ability to block out time where no appointments are desired. This feature should allow global blocking for one or more providers, as well as Quick Blocking for one time spur of the moment blocking. 8. Appointment Bundles: You should be able to create multiple appointments at one time for a client where multiple appointments are created for different service providers. 9. Multiple appointment screens: To avoid crowding in large organizations over 6 service providers, you should have the ability to easily switch to a different screen. 10. Ability to choose service provider display order: The ability to easily change the order of service providers should exist as well as the ability to define Rooms for appointments. 11. Available direct online appointment linking: It is not recommended that you use totally online software due to internet connection reliability and file maintenance and backup. Choose software that keeps your data on your local computer and links to an online file. It is also desirable that you have the ability to print out from online the service provider’s schedule as well as allow clients to make new and change old appointments. Requiring credit cards for new clients is also a nice feature, but not required. 12. Double + Booking of time: Many organization have stand by time while processing clients. It is good to have the ability to double or even triple book a client’s time. 13. Schedule Reports: Reports should be available that show service provider time for a day or week. 14. Client Appointment Reminders: At a minimum you should be able to send out mass emails or post to clients to remind them of upcoming appointments. A nice additional feature is the ability to automatically call a client through an automated phone dialer with your message. 15. Easy search, cut, paste, and print out of client appointments: You should be able to easily move and delete appointments and search for future dates. [ Back to White Papers ] |