THE SHOW MUST GO ON
Joel and his partners run a business setting up stage for live performances. The schedule of shows is irregular. To manage this, they have a list of casual workers who fill various stage crew jobs. They maintain a list of mobile numbers for each casual worker and send out regular Edit Broacast SMS messages with details about the jobs on offer. When the casual workers respond, Joel selects candidates and sends them an SMS advising they got the job. The unsuccessful candidates get an SMS advising that the jobs have been filled and they will be contacted on the next occasion. The casuals have become used to this process and generally view it as a fair approach.
MEDICAL DILEMMA
Gerard works with a group of doctors who run a suburban medical surgery. To reduce “no shows”, each day the receptionist loads a list of patients who have previously booked for appointments tomorrow. If the surgery has a mobile number, then an SMS is sent to the patient reminding them of the appointment. If the patient does not have a mobile phone, then a voice message is sent to their number reminding them of the appointment. This has reduced the “no shows” from 15% each day to less than 5%.
FRESH PRODUCE
Bruce operates a fleet of trucks that deliver perishable goods to customers. Because of the nature of the stock, it is important customers are ready to receive the goods as soon as they arrive. To ensure there is no confusion of the time of the expected delivery, head office sends an SMS to customers each morning with a summary of the goods to be delivered that day and the estimated time of arrival. Also, when there is an overstock of goods, an SMS blast is sent to customers making on the spot offers at reduced prices to move the goods out. This overall approach has reduced the amount of perished stock by 40%.
COSTLY BUSINESS
Susan has the task of sending out 500 invoices to customers each month. The cost of sending these invoices, including printing, envelopes, and postage is over 70 cents each, not counting the labour involved. Now Susan has a template of the invoice form and downloads an excel spreadsheet at the end of each month with the billing data “customer name, address, list of transactions, amount owing, etc". The data is merged with the billing template and the invoices are faxed to the customers. This has reduced billing costs by more than 70%. The invoices get to the customers quicker and payments are made quicker.
ONE WITH THE LOT
Sam manages a pizza restaurant. There is a form at the counter for customers to fill out to “register” and go into a draw for a free pizza each week. In the form, the customers also give permission to be contacted. At strategic times (eg during a footy game), Sam sends out a 2-way SMS blast suggesting “Hungry 4 a pizza? SMS back with what you want and we’ll deliver it straight 2 U!”. Customer orders appear on a computer screen in the restaurant. Sam also sends an SMS back to the customer advising “Pizza on the way. Have $22.00 ready 4 the driver. Thanks & enjoy yr food!”. Pizza orders soared during the footy games.
STOCK UP
Grant is a manufacturer of specialised products for veterinary surgeries. His business used to receive orders from surgeries by receiving calls for the products that were needed at the time. Now, each month Grant's secretary users the Edit Broadcast Media service to fax out to their customers an “order form” for restock, including “specials” each month. The surgery then faxes back the completed order form enabling Grant's warehouse to fills the order and despatch the goods to the veterinary. This approach resulted in a sales increase of over 25%.
COST CUTTING
Donna is a hairdresser. Each weekend, she goes through their appointment book to check for customers who have not been in for the past 6 weeks. Then on Monday morning, Donna sends personalised Edit Broadcast SMS’s to these clients with a message: “Hi Dave! Been 6 weeks since we've seen U at Donna's Hair Salon. Wanna look sharp again? SMS back date/time U want & we’ll get back 2 U asap 2 confirm. Cheers! Donna”. This approach has increased appointment bookings by 30%.
INTERNET SAVVY
Toby provides internet service to customers. When the service goes down, Toby's assistant Kerry sends an Edit Broadcast SMS to customers advising them that the service is temporarily down and when to expect it to be restored. This has resulted in much higher customer satisfaction. Although service outages are unavoidable at times, advising customers of the fact has contributed to a reduction in the “churn” of customers leaving the service by over 20%.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Nicholas is a commodity broker for agricultural products. When a customer (buyer) calls Nicholas for a delivery (eg 100 tons of soybeans to Shanghai), the broker sends an Edit Broadcast SMS to the farmers for this product, asking for price, delivery date, and quality grade. Effectively running a “tender by SMS”. Responses are due in 20 minutes. Once the responses are in, the broker sends a response SMS to the winner: “Your offer is accepted. Paperwork in the post tonight. Congratulations!”. The other farmers get an SMS: “Thanks for your offer, but another one has been accepted. We will contact you for the next sales opportunity.” This ability of Nicholas to respond tohis customers quickly has driven up sales substantially. As a secondary service, Nicholas sends out by fax to the farmers regular updates on global pricing and trends.
Joel and his partners run a business setting up stage for live performances. The schedule of shows is irregular. To manage this, they have a list of casual workers who fill various stage crew jobs. They maintain a list of mobile numbers for each casual worker and send out regular Edit Broacast SMS messages with details about the jobs on offer. When the casual workers respond, Joel selects candidates and sends them an SMS advising they got the job. The unsuccessful candidates get an SMS advising that the jobs have been filled and they will be contacted on the next occasion. The casuals have become used to this process and generally view it as a fair approach.
MEDICAL DILEMMA
Gerard works with a group of doctors who run a suburban medical surgery. To reduce “no shows”, each day the receptionist loads a list of patients who have previously booked for appointments tomorrow. If the surgery has a mobile number, then an SMS is sent to the patient reminding them of the appointment. If the patient does not have a mobile phone, then a voice message is sent to their number reminding them of the appointment. This has reduced the “no shows” from 15% each day to less than 5%.
FRESH PRODUCE
Bruce operates a fleet of trucks that deliver perishable goods to customers. Because of the nature of the stock, it is important customers are ready to receive the goods as soon as they arrive. To ensure there is no confusion of the time of the expected delivery, head office sends an SMS to customers each morning with a summary of the goods to be delivered that day and the estimated time of arrival. Also, when there is an overstock of goods, an SMS blast is sent to customers making on the spot offers at reduced prices to move the goods out. This overall approach has reduced the amount of perished stock by 40%.
COSTLY BUSINESS
Susan has the task of sending out 500 invoices to customers each month. The cost of sending these invoices, including printing, envelopes, and postage is over 70 cents each, not counting the labour involved. Now Susan has a template of the invoice form and downloads an excel spreadsheet at the end of each month with the billing data “customer name, address, list of transactions, amount owing, etc". The data is merged with the billing template and the invoices are faxed to the customers. This has reduced billing costs by more than 70%. The invoices get to the customers quicker and payments are made quicker.
ONE WITH THE LOT
Sam manages a pizza restaurant. There is a form at the counter for customers to fill out to “register” and go into a draw for a free pizza each week. In the form, the customers also give permission to be contacted. At strategic times (eg during a footy game), Sam sends out a 2-way SMS blast suggesting “Hungry 4 a pizza? SMS back with what you want and we’ll deliver it straight 2 U!”. Customer orders appear on a computer screen in the restaurant. Sam also sends an SMS back to the customer advising “Pizza on the way. Have $22.00 ready 4 the driver. Thanks & enjoy yr food!”. Pizza orders soared during the footy games.
STOCK UP
Grant is a manufacturer of specialised products for veterinary surgeries. His business used to receive orders from surgeries by receiving calls for the products that were needed at the time. Now, each month Grant's secretary users the Edit Broadcast Media service to fax out to their customers an “order form” for restock, including “specials” each month. The surgery then faxes back the completed order form enabling Grant's warehouse to fills the order and despatch the goods to the veterinary. This approach resulted in a sales increase of over 25%.
COST CUTTING
Donna is a hairdresser. Each weekend, she goes through their appointment book to check for customers who have not been in for the past 6 weeks. Then on Monday morning, Donna sends personalised Edit Broadcast SMS’s to these clients with a message: “Hi Dave! Been 6 weeks since we've seen U at Donna's Hair Salon. Wanna look sharp again? SMS back date/time U want & we’ll get back 2 U asap 2 confirm. Cheers! Donna”. This approach has increased appointment bookings by 30%.
INTERNET SAVVY
Toby provides internet service to customers. When the service goes down, Toby's assistant Kerry sends an Edit Broadcast SMS to customers advising them that the service is temporarily down and when to expect it to be restored. This has resulted in much higher customer satisfaction. Although service outages are unavoidable at times, advising customers of the fact has contributed to a reduction in the “churn” of customers leaving the service by over 20%.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Nicholas is a commodity broker for agricultural products. When a customer (buyer) calls Nicholas for a delivery (eg 100 tons of soybeans to Shanghai), the broker sends an Edit Broadcast SMS to the farmers for this product, asking for price, delivery date, and quality grade. Effectively running a “tender by SMS”. Responses are due in 20 minutes. Once the responses are in, the broker sends a response SMS to the winner: “Your offer is accepted. Paperwork in the post tonight. Congratulations!”. The other farmers get an SMS: “Thanks for your offer, but another one has been accepted. We will contact you for the next sales opportunity.” This ability of Nicholas to respond tohis customers quickly has driven up sales substantially. As a secondary service, Nicholas sends out by fax to the farmers regular updates on global pricing and trends.