How to Build an Irresistible Business Case for Appointment Software [+ Template]

How to Build an Irresistible Business Case for Appointment Software [+ Template]

If clients are skipping appointments, tossing their “take a number” tickets away in frustration, and taking out loans from fintechs, it’s probably time for appointment and queue management software.

But, how do you make the business case to your organization? It might seem daunting, but if you have a plan, it can be quite simple. 

Your business case is just a story that consists of three things:

  1. What you’re missing out on—Retaining or acquiring clients, gaining growth opportunities, or making operational efficiency gains
  2. How your institution could benefit—How your organization would change for the better if you had a fix—like a better client experience, smoother staff workflows, and better customer data
  3. The software that would change that—The software, partners, and processes that would create that ideal future

In this post, we’ll walk through the steps of building an unforgettable pitch for your financial institution and leave you with a helpful template to get started at the end.

Read our complete Buyer’s Guide to Appointment and Queue Management Software

1. What You’re Missing Out On: Gather Facts to Build an Emotionally Charged Story

Leading with statistics won’t help your business case—humans aren’t driven by logic alone and they often resist change. The best approach is to appeal to the heart and tell a compelling story. 

Nancy Duarte—CEO of the famed corporate messaging agency Duarte—explains that when building a compelling business case, “Odds are that you’re trying to insert change. The first reaction to that change is typically fear, and the only real way to get your audience to overcome their reluctance is to appeal to the heart and not the mind.” 

To find those compelling stories, begin by interviewing customer-facing teams at your organization to find out what’s working (or not). Ask them questions like:

  • What do our least satisfied customers and members say?
  • What complaints come up a lot?
  • What are these issues costing us, in your eyes? 
  • How do people compare our customer experience (CX) to that of other institutions? 

You’ll likely see patterns begin to form. The only way to verify them is to go straight to the source—your clients. You could ask your customers and members questions like: 

  • Think back to your favorite interaction with us. What made it so memorable? 
  • What about your least favorite interaction? 
  • If we wanted to be easier to work with, what would we do?
  • If we could do 1-2 things that’d make things effortless, what would it be? 

Once you’ve collected these facts and anecdotes from your frontline teams and clients, analyze the common themes that come up over and over. Consider the emotional reactions to those issues—are your clients and staff feeling frustration, anxiety, or annoyance? Understanding your client’s stories and their underlying emotions will help strengthen your case. 

Examples of Stories to Start Your Pitch With:

A mother of two visits a branch. She needs a simple service, and this is the only time she can swing by between work and family commitments. Unfortunately, since the line is too long, her kids start throwing tantrums.

A middle-aged person with multiple banks and fintech apps, who increasingly prefers virtual support vs. coming into a branch, can’t find a way to contact someone about a recent online mortgage application.

Your frontline staff say booking an appointment involves a big, confusing spreadsheet that gets out of date fast—and since it’s so cumbersome, they avoid it. Agents also say the no-show rate is high on appointments, which wastes their time and throws off coverage for walk-ins.

The compelling lesson that connects all these stories? Your clients want more convenience and certainty in how and when they engage with you. And so do your staff. Right now, your customers and members could be taking their business to providers that have easier, smoother experiences.

2. How Your Institution Could Benefit: Connect CX Issues to Core Objectives

The next step is to connect your stories with your accompanying objectives. Most banks and credit unions are seeking better client experiences, operational efficiencies, digital transformation projects, and growth or retention goals.

Your business case—and the stories you choose to support it—should connect to these objectives or ones you define for your organization:

Ensure that you’re also pitching on how this new software will benefit folks from across the organization. Benefits for each function could include: 

  • Customer + Member Experience
    • Smoother, consistent experience across all channels 
    • Reduced wait times 
    • Faster appointment routing
    • Higher NPS
  • Lending + Wealth Management
    • More appointments
    • Improved conversations
    • More upsell opportunities
    • Better follow-up tracking
    • Deliver more personalized services
  • Marketing
    • Identify top-performing channels
    • Drive more high-value sales conversations
    • Measure campaign ROI
    • Better understand the client journey 
  • Operations
    • Forecast appointments and traffic
    • Reduce contact center call volume
    • Better hand-offs of clients to advisors
    • Improve staffing levels and efficiency
    • Reduce no-show rates

Making the connections between your emotionally charged stories and how solving those issues benefits your organization is a key step in building your case for appointment and queuing software. In order for your organization to see the value in making this leap, staff need to see how it will benefit their experience and the experiences of their clients.

3. The Software That Will Change It: Present the Tools You Need

The final stage in building your case is to understand what the software does and tie those solutions back to your key objectives. When your stories lead to objectives—which lead to a solution—you know you’ve got a winning case on your hands. Now is the time to throw in any useful statistics you’ve picked up along the way. 

For example, if your new appointment booking and queue management software can improve client experiences by routing people faster, reducing wait times, and giving people more choice, you could ease the pain of the mother of two who is seeking quick and convenient answers to her financial questions. 

“The mother of two’s story could be accompanied with relevant stats about the benefits of your new software. Organizations that implement it see a 41% increase in booked appointments, 21-point increase in their net promoter score (NPS), and a 97% average customer satisfaction score.”

Does your team have a cumbersome, back-and-forth scheduling process? If this software can reduce staff admin tasks, appointment length, and understaffing, then you could achieve your operational efficiency objective. 

“Your teams could experience a 75% reduction in appointment length, 23% reduction in no-shows, and 300% higher conversion rates, not unlike other teams who have introduced appointment and queuing software.”

And if your new platform allows your middle-aged fintech aficionado to talk with your team online without stepping foot in a brick-and-mortar building—you could retain another client you might have lost to new fintechs. 

“There is hope for your fintech client and ones like them. After implementing appointment software, financial institutions found that 68% of their appointments are for lending and 45% of are for new members. Their sales teams often close 2-3 products per engagement.”

This is also a great opportunity to gather supportive case studies—like the story of an institution that faced CX issues and solved them—which increased their NPS score from 65 to 86. (See more stories here.)

Presenting Your Case: Keep it Simple and Focused

The power of your business case is in the narrative—so less is more. Just look at how Steve Jobs presented the first iPhone—a short pitch with spartan slides. A focus on crafting a compelling story that imbued excitement in the audience. That excitement paired with only the most important slides—nothing more, nothing less—will ensure you keep your audience engaged and your case doesn’t falter at its presentation. 

And once it’s over, pat yourself on the back. If you’ve gotten this far, you’ve done your best and the rest is up to the organization to recognize the value that appointment and queuing management software can offer.

It’s Easier Than You Think

If you’ve built a compelling business case by defining your organization’s issues, envisioning an ideal future, and pitching the solution—you’ve got a winning business case. Start with crafting compelling stories from your customers, connecting those stories to your business objectives, and showing how appointment and queuing software can help every function achieve your organizational goals. 

When it comes time to present, focus on the narrative and keep it spartan with your slides. With these strategies, you’ll make choosing appointment and queuing software the easiest decision for your financial institution to make.

Template: A Business Case Outline for Appointment Software

Why We Should Change: The Customer and Staff Perspective

  • What Our Frontline Staff/Advisors Say:
    • What do our least satisfied customers and members say?
    • What complaints come up a lot?
    • What are these issues costing us?
    • How does our experience compare to other institutions?
  • What Our Customers or Members Say:
    • What interactions are positive and memorable?
    • What interactions are their least favorite?
    • If we want to be easier to work with, what should we do?
    • If we could do 1-3 things that’d make engaging effortless, what would it be?
  • Summarize Common Stories, Themes, and Emotions

What Improving Could Change for Us

  • Better Client Experiences
    • Example: If we allowed people to book appointments online and see an accurate wait time, they’d feel valued, less frustrated and more satisfied—which leads to better client experiences.
  • Improved Staff/Operational Efficiency
    • Example: If you could reduce no-shows and back-and-forth scheduling, you’d free your agents to make more outbound calls, and increase labor efficiency which leads to operational efficiency.
  • More Opportunities for New Growth, Retention, Cross-Sell, etc.
    • Example: If it was easier to book appointments, we’d get more, which would help us close more products. We’d also spend more 1:1 time with customers and members—which would give us more opportunities and knowledge to drive retention, cross-sells, and more.

How Appointment Scheduling Can Help Our Existing Initiatives and Departments

Stay in the loop

Sign up for inspiring stories, helpful resources, and product news.