Managing Travel Times

[WillS]

How are you managing this? Here is the situation I am in right now living in a larger city where travel times can be 30 minutes between zip codes. I'm going to use this example:

You are scheduling 2 trucks full time. Customers call in and want or need a certain date/time. You have this date & time open. You schedule them. As other customers call in, you attempt to schedule them on days/times where other appointments are located in or around their zip code. This doesn't always work out though. With people needing certain times of the day, and you have these times open, yet they aren't near the other jobs zip codes. You don't want to lose this job or not be able to book them and lose them to a competitor that does have the time open. With a 24 hour city like most cities out there, people have other stuff going on and really plan on short notice.

Does anyone have a certain way they are dealing with this? At times it could be over 2 - 3 hours driving time through out the day. 30 minutes to one job, 30 to another. When you don't want gaps in the scheduling and you fill in appointments, are you calling to switch people around?
Just dealing with it or what? This is the problem I'm facing right now and I am not sure how to handle it. And then if I don't book the job that is 20-30 minutes away, and that space goes unfilled on the schedule because we are trying to fill it with a zip code close by, it is a waste.

 

[Mikey P]

We give two hour arival times.
We also deal with heavy traffic and people understand that, most are more flexible than they are willing to admit.

Growing pains eh Will?

 

[WillS]

See 2 hour arrival times is a great idea. I was thinking about this as with the 1 hour window we are stretching it thin anyways.

I'm just sick of having to get on the 3rd truck or send guys home when there is a gap in the schedule, or running behind because the next job is 35 minutes away.

 

[Mikey P]

2 hours is very reasonable for the 2nd appointment on..

 

[Desk Jockey]

We are in small town USA so this may not apply but we call anytime the crews are running ahead and try to move them up to fill the void. Doesn't always work but most don't mind or are happy to get them out sooner. You will catch some at work that are a bit irritated than you are trying to move them. Those we do not move. Only those that are willing.

If we are running behind we call ahead to let them know also. Occasionally we will get someone that melts down, then we scramble together another crew to do the job or at least cover until the original can arrive.

Its not perfect, its like chess moving pieces around.

 

[Mikey P]

@Brian H

 

[Brian H]

When we take an order, about 50% of the customers are comfortable with any time on the scheduled date as long as they know the time the day prior to the appointment. That gives us the flexibility to work the other 50% who have time requests. We then put our routes together the day prior to the appointment and call all customers with their 2 hour time frame.

Obviously, the bigger you get, the easier it is to schedule tight routes. We are large enough that we go every where every day and still have manageable drive times.

When I worked with a smaller company, I divided our service area into 3 and only serviced 2 of those 3 areas per day. That worked for the most part on reducing drive times, though not always. Sometimes it's just the nature of the business.

 

[Mikey P]

Maybe insted of asking when is good for them, tell them when its good for you.

 

[Kellie Hiler]

I always try to schedule what is convenient for me first, but yes, it doesn't always work that way. the second and third customers of the day are always told that I do not rush my jobs and may be running either early or late depending on how the the prior job goes, but will call if this occurs. If they are at work I will call them when on the way so they can leave to meet me if this is a request from them. Or they just give me the garage code.

I am a one truck operation currently so it's harder to schedule in such a way as to cut down the drive time, but, most customers are pretty flexible and if I call them and explain that it would work better for me if I could change it to such and such day and time they are very understanding, but there have been days when I've had to go north of Denver, then south of Denver and back north.

When we had techs there was very rarely a gap between jobs other than the scheduled drive time with a break for lunch between the first and second job.
If it happened that they did end up with a gap due to a cancellation or such, I would let them go to their house and relax till the next one or come to mine if it was closer and they would do truck and equipment maintenance.

 

[Spurlington]

When scheduling .. offer what works for you .. then when they say well Id like this date and time .. you may have to eat the wasted back n forth trip. We give a half hr window for first job then a 2 hr window for 2nd and 3rd. We tell-em the window is a target time and all depends on the traffic conditions therefore we are not persecuted for being late.

I showed up at 1:30 on an estimated 12-2 window and the lady was flipping because I was to be there at 12 and done by 2. Like I know its gonna take 2 hrs to clean. Although when you say we should be there sometime between 12-2 it could sound like we will be there to start at 12 done by 2. So we repeat and emphasize estimated arrival time. Some only hear the 1st number still.

So when I call to let them know Im on my way, Ill say, "Hello we are scheduled to arrive between 12-2 today and Id like to let you know that we will be there by 1:45."

 

[PrimaDonna]

We always ask if there is a particular date and time they had in mind....typically after I find out where they are located before asking that so I can figure out if it is worth the drive if they want that date and we already have something scheduled at the opposite side of the county. We always try to accommodate the customer request. It usually works out, but there are times when we have a 30 min to hour drive between appointments. If it doesn't work out, they at least have the illusion of control and are appreciative that we gave them the opportunity to choose a time and appreciate that. However, the majority of people say something like next week or the week of, rather than a specific day.

If it is a really long drive for that date cause something is already scheduled and a small appt or min charge, I may tell them that date is not available and ask if they had another date that would work. Sometimes we just suck it up. Especially if its a repeat client even if it is a small job. Just part of being in business.

We schedule first appointment between 8:30-9 arrival. Second 11-1 and third 1-3. If the appointments are close together or on the smaller side, we can get a forth in between 2-4 or 3-5.

 

[mirf]

We give two hour windows too. Even if they get a late start we can stick to it. Sometime it is quicker to send another truck to keep them on time. I have just started the job and left when they got there. Also when they call in suggest a time. We do not ask when is good for you. If is a bad time for them now we are working together and we did not say no.

 

[Brian H]

I showed up at 1:30 on an estimated 12-2 window and the lady was flipping because I was to be there at 12 and done by 2. Like I know its gonna take 2 hrs to clean. Although when you say we should be there sometime between 12-2 it could sound like we will be there to start at 12 done by 2. So we repeat and emphasize estimated arrival time. Some only hear the 1st number still.

When we call to confirm the appointment the day prior to cleaning we ALWAYS tell the customer the crew will be ARRIVING sometime between ( using your time example) 12 and 2. Yep, we learned that lesson just like you did!!

 

[WillS]

Good ideas. I'm thinking the 2 hour window may be most effective. Meg mentioned, if the job is to small from the one previous to it, it's hard to have a longer drive time for the techs. It is wasting money (hours,etc.)

We do call 30 mins prior and I make sure we call before the job time even hits. If its 10am to 11am, they are required to call before 10am. Just to give an ETA. I always hate sitting there for the cable guy when its a 2 hour window and get a call 15 mins before the end of the window saying he is coming. I don't want our customers to feel like that. When I need to be working on the business instead of "in" it, it is hard to grab the 3rd truck and go do random jobs because of zip code.

 

[smastio]

Good ideas. I'm thinking the 2 hour window may be most effective. Meg mentioned, if the job is to small from the one previous to it, it's hard to have a longer drive time for the techs. It is wasting money (hours,etc.)

We do call 30 mins prior and I make sure we call before the job time even hits. If its 10am to 11am, they are required to call before 10am. Just to give an ETA. I always hate sitting there for the cable guy when its a 2 hour window and get a call 15 mins before the end of the window saying he is coming. I don't want our customers to feel like that. When I need to be working on the business instead of "in" it, it is hard to grab the 3rd truck and go do random jobs because of zip code.

You are correct Will - NO one likes to wait. There actually was an article I read in the WSJ on "The Wait Time Misery" and lost wages because of it. Here's my thought and it only relates to the online bookings... maybe you could take a look at upping the ante (as you say in Vegas) for the discount you are offering...

Maybe there is a happy $/time middle. Call me if you have questions.

Steve

 

[Mikey P]

Call the phone or cable company and see how wide a time slot they give you

 

[smastio]

Call the phone or cable company and see how wide a time slot they give you

I would but I get depressed waiting on hold for someone... so..... wait for it...... that's right! FYI - Here's 'the WSJ article I mentioned earlier. http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204520204577251620654928202

and this was written in 2012 - LOTS has changed.

 

[The Great Oz]

I'd ditto Brian Hanna's comments.

You need to get the customer's area early in your conversation so you can just not have openings on days you don't want to go to that area. I will absolutely say no to making zigzag routes to accomodate customer time requests. There are a dozen ways to gain entry without having a customer sit and wait, so try suggesting a few before even going down the road to promising set times or out-of -area stops.

If a customer demands an out-of-area appointment and you fear losing them, figure out what the extra travel cost will be to you and charge them for it.

Call the phone or cable company and see how wide a time slot they give you

Monopolies can get away with anything.

 

[Barry-QDCC]

Just to emphasis what's already been said.

Don't say "I'll be there between 12-2:00pm". Make sure they hear and understand when you say "I'll arrive at your house sometime between 12:00-2:00pm to start your cleaning."

I learned the hard way.

 

[smastio]

If you haven't seen or don't remember the Movie "Network" then this will make no sense, but
6 years ago I had some time on my hands and was thinking about time and the service industry. The results were this video. The concept has evolved to greater heights, but looking back it made me chuckle. This was done from a "consumers" perspective and meant with humor. Thanks to the metamorphosis process the bug has evolved into more or a 2.0 look - thank God!