OK, we’ve all had that horrendous experience with the “cable guy”. You make an appointment to get your cable, dish or DSL installed or fixed and then you wait…and wait…and wait. It seems like somebody should have invented some technology to make sure home service delivery or installation is more appreciative of our time. Well, turns out somebody did – TOA Technologies, a SaaS (Software as a Service) technology company out of Cleveland, Ohio, and self-professed customer appointment management experts. According to a survey conducted by TOA:

  • 32% of customers have taken a sick day or vacation day to wait at home for a service call or delivery in the first six months of 2009.
  • Almost 1 in 5 Americans lost wages by taking unpaid time off work to wait at home in the first six months of 2009.
  • 29% have left their home in frustration because the service/delivery person was late.
  • 82% wait on average at least 1 day per year in their homes for service calls or deliveries.

TOA’s approach to combatting this customer experience epidemic is to offer a mobile workforce management solution to home-service companies, specifically cable providers, that narrows down the wait window and provides real-time feedback on mobile workforce performance and satisfaction. The result? Customer wait times are significantly reduced and companies can save money by reducing costly “truck rolls” to homes where the customer doesn’t show up. The process is simple: Customers are notified of their appointment a day before, they receive communication the day of the appointment verifying the time (narrowed down to within and hour or so), the service guy shows up and does his thing, then the customer receives an immediate follow-up communication to check how the service guy did. All this can be customized to a company’s workflow and a customer’s communication preference.

While this all seems very simple, it’s amazing how many companies have not jumped on this customer experience management bandwagon. Bottom line: If you are waiting too long for a service person to come to your house, ask them if they can begin implementing technology like TOA’s solution.

It’s time we stop waiting and start demanding better service.

(Footnote: Check out the blog by TOA Technologies CEO Yuval Brisker. He’s a stickler for customer service and has some good insight on customer experience management.)