IMO - Inbound service appointments are better handled by TRAINING the customer. Most customers would prefer to book the service appointment online vs. calling.
Had a smaller store call and ask for advice - The service advisors were being inundated with appointment calls. They did not have the budget for hiring a service receptionist, and the "AI" service solutions were also way to expensive for what they offered.
So - the setup was == when a customer called and "pressed <number>" to book a service appointment - we moved the call into a 45 sec "hold" were we played music and every few seconds said "did you know you could book your service appointment online at xyzdealer.com" .. music music .. "did you know you could book your service appointment online at xyzdealer.com" ... music music .. "did you know you could book your service appointment online at xyzdealer.com" etc etc. If they hung out for the 45 secs, they were transferred to the advisors like normal.
Cost the dealer was about $100 to have the recording done (they wanted a "professional" voice).
And, did you know what happened? We had about an 80% drop off rate during the message, but a 300%++ month/month online appointment bookings over the next couple months. According to the service advisors, the calls that did hold to speak with them, were more "high level" detailed type appointments that the online service scheduler couldn't handle.
Sometimes, AI is a solution looking for a problem.
