Schedule an appointment

(This post is two of six in a series.)

As, I pointed out in the title of this blog as well as my first post, field service is not hard. There are about 6 steps in the process. Some are more important than others, but without quality execution at each level, your field service quality will be poor.

Part 1 was to make a sale, not a promise. Today, I'll be talking about scheduling an appointment. Of course, this can't just be any appointment: it has to be one you can keep.

Booking and scheduling is pretty easy in general. Doing it correctly, though, is difficult.


Why? Because scheduling an appointment is all about carefully balancing constraints. Long before the first customer ever calls, a business will have decided what constraints it will place on itself. Usually, the business is not even 100% consciously aware that it has made these decisions: What appointment windows will we offer; what service guarantees (if any) are available; what will our headcount be? Will we staff with uptrained, cross-capable team members, or will we create niche team members incapable of doing anything other than "their" job and silo them into a corner? What percentage of possible working time will we book our load?

(PROTIP: In the long run, it is impossible to consistently complete 2 hours worth of estimated work in 2 clock hours. Parts break, vehicles break down, technicians need to take a dump. Those sorts of things. On top of that, the two hours of estimated work probably isn't two hours. That's because your sales staff (not technical staff) is charged with scoping the work.)

All of these decisions impact the customer, and affect the business's ability to schedule appointments.  The most convenient appointment strategy for the customer is the most onerous on the business. Conversely, the most efficient appointment strategy for the business will not be very customer-friendly. I recommend the following guidelines, seeking balance between customer satisfaction and fleet operations:

1. Offer appointment windows no smaller than 2 hours and no larger than 4 hours for residential customers.
2. "Days Out" (the number of already full days between today and the next available appointment) can be a GOOD THING! It means that customer demand is outstripping your labor supply. The key is having the balls to monetize it.
• Economics 101: when demand outpaces supply, raise prices to more than cover the cost of the work. Conversely, lower prices to your cost to reduce short term demand.
• Example: A cable company is six days out on installs. If you call Monday, the next available appointment is Saturday. If you wait until next Tuesday, the company will waive 50% of your installation fee. However, for $100 extra, they offer "PREMIUM INSTALLATION" with a free reach-around, and they can be there Wednesday morning with bells on.
3. Don't ever overbook yourself unless you're getting paid to do so (see #2 above).
4. Be firm with availability: operate your truck roll quota as first come, first served. No amount of sales magic will sprout additional field resources, but in exchange for your money, "PREMIUM" service is available. (again, refer to #3)
5. Have a strong understanding of your labor mix. Cross-trained employees are the most versatile; the math is easiest with them for calculating your booking capacity. They can do a day's work for a day's pay in about a day. If your staff is more specialized and/or siloed, be sure to book to their capacity. If you have 15 installers and 4 troubleshooters, you can't sell the same amount of repair and installation work in the same day. Don't do it.