4 Ways for Employers to Use Text Message Scheduling

Text message scheduling is one of the fastest, cheapest and most effective methods of communication available. Until the time when everybody in the world can afford an iPhone, it is also the most accessible form of communication. And there is nowhere that communication is more critical to success than in the workplace. Today we are looking at four different ways that employers can use text message scheduling to make their lives easier.

1. Notifying employees of their schedules
   You could put a roster up at work, but there is always the possibility that it will be misread. Emails are not accessible anywhere like mobile phones are, and if you leave a printout for people to collect at work, it is liable to be lost. Text message scheduling can be set up to deliver timetables to employees automatically. You can even set up the system to allow replies. Tell your employees that they'll need to reply within 24 hours to confirm they are able to work those hours, or they'll be reallocated to somebody else.
2. Advise of schedule changes
   The one piece of communications equipment that most people have on them at all times is their mobile phone. If there is a schedule change, especially if it affects a large number of employees, it is much quicker and cheaper to send out a bulk text message and have people reply to confirm, rather than calling every single one.
3. Record job times
   If you have remote working employees, set up a system where they punch in and out by text message. This is a great way to eliminate time-card padding, or receive short job reports in real time rather than at the end of the day.
4. Call employees in en masse at short notice
   In industries like healthcare and emergency services, you often need to get in contact with a large number of staff at once. Text message scheduling allows you to put the message out there once and once only, and get a response from all available staff.

How to Prevent No-Shows: Real Estate Agents

No-shows area killer in any business -- whether you're in reiki or real estate. It is really difficult, both mentally and logistically, to set yourself up to deal with a client and then have to switch tasks, sometimes only after you've waited a quarter of an hour or more. Today we are looking at how some simple tools and techniques, like scheduling SMS message reminders, can really help real estate agents cut down on the number of no-shows they encounter.

Meet at the office

Where you can, if you suffer from a high number of no-shows, always try to arrange to meet at the office. The disturbance will be minimal if they don't show up. If they don't call to advise you they are running late, and don't show up after 15-20 minutes, it should be acceptable to leave if you have to.

A debated method

One agent reports enormous success with the method of "You call me, I won’t call you". In this case, people are required to call the agent half an hour or fifteen minutes beforehand to confirm that they will arrive. If they don't, he doesn’t show up.

Despite the success, it is easy to see how this isn’t necessarily the most hospitable way to treat prospects. If you feel you can make it work for you, though -- try it!

The call-ahead

Calling ahead to let your clients know that you are on the way to an appointment is a good strategy. Actually having the voice-to-voice contact with a person seems to make a big difference in people's willingness to keep appointments -- otherwise, frivolous meeting-makers can find it all too easy to simply "forget" the appointment, when they don't have that visceral understanding that they are making life hard for somebody else. However, these real estate agents often report enormous phone bills and lots of wasted time, also…

Scheduling SMS messages

Scheduling SMS messages is one of the best all-round solutions to cutting down on accidental no-shows, and saving both time and money on the phone bill. When it isn’t possible to meet at your office, having an automated computer program send a reminder about the appointment to your prospect's phone is a great tactic.

Make sure your message sounds as personal as possible -- this capitalizes on the fact that people don't feel bad about disappointing machines, but they don't like disappointing people! Make sure you include your name, and write your message as if you were actually typing to a single, real person.