With its entire revenue based on top-class customer service, this client was facing over $10,000 worth of lost income each month, due to one critical flaw in its appointment scheduling system.
THE CHALLENGE:
The plastic surgery company, due to a combination of budgeting & staffing issues, was applying an archaic appointment scheduling method.
The receptionists would receive an appointment request, after which they would manually insert critical data into an Excel sheet… while being on the phone the entire time, thus blocking the line. This process was not only tiresome & prone to human error, but the long talk-times between the client and the staff led to *other* appointment requests being lost, which led to a vicious circle of “re-call, apologize, and repeat.”
Facing imminent chaos, this client approached SUMO with an appointment scheduling system that looked like a facelift gone horribly wrong.
THE OBJECTIVE:
SUMO started by conducting a thorough audit of the company’s operations, and interviewing the employees to better understand the scope of the issue.
Once the audit was complete, SUMO laid out the following objectives or “needs” that would help tackle the key pain-points for the company and its clientele:
- Multi-platform scheduling: to move away from *just* calling
- Automated data-entry & scheduling: for repeat clients
- Multi-calendar view: for clients to suggest their ideal appointment times
Automated follow-ups: for clients to re-book after an appointment
THE SOLUTION:
SUMO began by crafting a solution that was customer-first, which began with a simple philosophy; “a call should become the customer’s last method of scheduling an appointment”.
Firstly, SUMO expanded the appointment ticketing requests to include multiple platforms, allowing clients to now book appointments through email & website.
Secondly, a Multi-Calendar view was put into place, which allowed the clients to view each specialist’s availability, allowing them to schedule their own appointments at their desired time. Moreover, SUMO implemented a scheduling system that would automatically update after each new appointment was scheduled, thus providing the receptionists with up-to-date data to recommend to a new client waiting on the call.
Lastly, with the pre-recorded data extracted from the excel sheets, the receptions now only had to add a few sets of data for new clients, while the platform would automatically allocate them to a sub-grouping of the company’s specialists.
THE SOLUTION:
SUMO began by crafting a solution that was customer-first, which began with a simple philosophy; “a call should become the customer’s last method of scheduling an appointment”.
Firstly, SUMO expanded the appointment ticketing requests to include multiple platforms, allowing clients to now book appointments through email & website.
Secondly, a Multi-Calendar view was put into place, which allowed the clients to view each specialist’s availability, allowing them to schedule their own appointments at their desired time.
Moreover, SUMO implemented a scheduling system that would automatically update after each new appointment was scheduled, thus providing the receptionists with up-to-date data to recommend to a new client waiting on the call.
Lastly, with the pre-recorded data extracted from the excel sheets, the receptions now only had to add a few sets of data for new clients, while the platform would automatically allocate them to a sub-grouping of the company’s specialists.
THE RESULTS:
Through the combination of the above-mentioned features, the client’s receptionists are no longer required to scroll long, error-prone excel sheets while making awkward small-talk with clients on the phone.
The client’s entire staff now has one central location to schedule and manage patient appointments, which has reduced the number of no-shows and cancellations for their practice.
SUMO’s modernized customer engagement platform offers a transparent, bird’s-eye view of all the appointments in a convenient & efficient manner.
THE FUTURE:
The plastic surgery client can now focus on long-term objectives by:
- Effectively serving client needs, without missing an appointment
- Increasing client inflow & focus on expanding services or locations
- Appropriately managing increases in demand
