Seeking Best Practices for Scheduling Service Calls

[asnow]

This was a message shared by @AlexPhylactou on the Call Booking Discussion board. Wondered if you could all share your  thoughts with him? 

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Hope y'all are doing great! So, here’s the deal. We're trying to up our game with how we handle our HVAC/plumbing service calls, and we could use some pointers from you wise folks.

Here’s How We Roll Now:

1. The superstars at the front desk (our CSRs) slot every incoming call under the "Who’s gonna take this?" (aka “Unassigned”) technician.
2. We’ve got these three time slots we give to clients: the early bird 8-9AM, the mid-day 10AM-2PM, and the afternoon stretch 2-6PM.
3. Then, as the day goes on, our dispatch gurus play a game of "match the tech to the job." It's kind of like Tetris, but with service calls.

Little Hiccups We’re Running Into:

1. The whole manual matching thing? Yeah, it’s a tad chaotic, especially when the calls come flooding in.
2. Sometimes we double-book or, heaven forbid, miss a slot. Yikes!
3. Emergencies? Reschedules? They throw our whole groove off.
4. Those time windows? Super helpful, but also a bit of a ticking clock when things don’t go to plan.

Here’s where you come in:

1. Time Slots: Thinking of ditching the whole time window thing and just telling folks they're on our VIP list for the day. Thoughts?
2. Tech Scheduling: How does ACP work for you? Do you find it better for a whole day to be scheduled for a tech? 
3. Emergencies: How do you juggle the surprise "Help, I need someone NOW!" calls?
4. Staying in the Loop: Got tips to keep everyone (CSRs, dispatch, techs) in sync without a bazillion check-ins?
5. Training: Anything fun or effective you've done to get the team scheduling like pros?

Your wisdom, rants, raves, and GIFs are all welcome. Help us get better at what we do, and who knows, maybe there’ll be some virtual cookies in it for you! 

Thanks a bunch and catch you on the flip side!

[csr80]

We book using two-hour arrival windows (8-10, 10-12 etc), and use capacity planner to assist. We allow up to 10 unassigned calls per division to fill in the gaps. When we schedule the call, we always ask, "If our tech becomes available before that timeframe on (date) Can we give you a call?". And note it in the job booking notes. We are playing Tetris throughout the day as things shift. Then we update the customer via call, text, or email.

[jaalahig]

Initially, we do not offer time windows 😌. We guarantee same day service and if the customer has specific appointment requests we do try our best to accommodate. 
We tell our customers "We have you on the schedule for today we will give you a call when we have a technician is available it will give you a 30-45 minute window before he arrives". If they ask do you know what time ? We advise "We normally send the next technician available in your area and we always give you a call before he is dispatched to your home." Most times customers are reassured by the fact we will let them know when a technician is on their way and if they do have a specific request they will let us know or we can offer time windows 8-12 or 12-4 . If a customer requests a specific time we just advise we will get as close to that time as possible. Our dispatchers have an update procedure to advise customers waiting in line so they know when they are next in line or we just haven't forgot about them!
This helps 1. making sure we are sending the right technicians and 2. we can route our technicians most effectively 🙂 

[SarahFritz]

1. Time Slots: We offer 2, 8-12 and 12-4. 
2. Tech Scheduling: We do not use this, yet. (I say yet, because I really want to start using dispatch pro) 
3. Emergencies: We lightly schedule PM's, leaving multiple spots available for these calls. Then, when they don't come, our CSR starts calling to bump up other PM's or service requests of non-membership requests.  
4. Staying in the Loop: I would dedicate this responsibility to your dispatcher. If you have multiple CSR's and no dispatcher, I would transition a CSR into that role and hire another CSR if need be.  
5. Training: Not yet. 

[joanne_b]

@AlexPhylactou

1.  Time Slots: We are based in NYC, Our customers have a hard enough time accepting a lengthy time window. I can not imagine the verbal assaults we would receive if we said, we would be there at some point during the day! "Fuhhgetaboutit"! lol We have 4 times, a "members only" benefit of the coveted First call, a Morning 8-1, afternoon 11-3, and Evening 12-6 
2. Tech Scheduling: How does ACP work for you? We have not set up ACP yet. ( It's a post Pantheon rock for me!) We book our calls and assign them to techs as they come in. I watch the board closely and play tetris as needed. If we are full, they are booked next day and added to our "VIP" Next in line  waitlist.
3. Emergencies: How do you juggle the surprise "Help, I need someone NOW!" calls? Our members will get assigned "day of" regardless of the board  depending on the "emergency" . We definitely triage these and weed out the nonsense for next day when possible. 
4. Staying in the Loop: Got tips to keep everyone (CSRs, dispatch, techs) in sync without a bazillion check-ins? Texting is our BFF - I love the mass text option on the dispatch board
5. Training: Anything fun or effective you've done to get the team scheduling like pros?This is an area we need improvement in too!

[CourtneyG]

Joanne, I saw you used the word Rock. Do you use the EOS business model?

[michelle54 · Accepted solution]

@AlexPhylactou

1. Time windows: We also use overlapping windows similar to @RandiThompson. We make them aware these are tentative windows due to the nature of our work however we do our best to meet them. We provide updates throughout the day. At minimum 10am, 2pm, and 4pm. We also provide a 45 minute notice so they are not tied to their home. 

3. Emergencies: We use an "urgency list". If you call for same day service and we are booked we place you on this list should an opening become available. You are also guaranteed an appointment by our next available date. This saves a ton of calls. Should they provide push back we then offer to be their back up plan. Allowing them to have an appointment locked in for worst case and they can look around for something sooner. 

4. We track job notes in the job history section of ST, we use google sheets; that can be updated and viewed by all members, our office team also uses SLACK to communicate availability. 

5. We use Powersell Coaching for our calls in addition to 1:1. This program alone significantly increased our booking rate. Booking rates are a KPI that is rewarded with a monetary incentive each month. In addition, we allow CSR's to submit two WOW calls a month. We choose 2 winners each month that get a spiff. This encourages quality calls, resulting in higher booking rates. 

Michelle Brown 
Roto Rooter Plumbing Greenville, SC 

[asnow]

Awesome insights Michelle! Thank you so much for your advice!

[RandiThompson]

@AlexPhylactou We use overlapping windows to allow for more wiggle room, first call 8-9:00, morning 8-12:00, miday 10-2:00 and afternoon 12-6:30. We also put a floating space holder on a tech to hold out some time for emergencies or techs getting stuck, this also blocks off the time in ACP so we don't overbook with online bookings. Our process is the CSR books the job and the dispatcher pulls it up, she lines out the jobs as they come in so looking at ACP or just the dispatch board you can see if there is available time to book more jobs or move to the next day.  

Hope this helps

[asnow]

I like how you overlap the windows! Great idea!