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TimeTrade Revolutionizes Appointment Setting with TimeDriver

PALM DESERT, Calif., Jan. 28 PRNewswire — TimeTrade Systems (http://www.timetrade.com), the leader in self-service appointment scheduling, introduced today at DEMO 08 the first on-demand solution designed to enable individuals to easily and automatically book a steady flow of appointments with prospects and customers through a single email outreach or Web site visit. For sales executives, professionals and service providers needing to set up dozens or hundreds of appointments to drive business and revenues, TimeDriver eliminates the overhead and administrative hassles of back-and- forth individual meeting negotiations.

Appointment scheduling is a massive administrative drain on sales executives, professionals and service providers — and often ineffectual. According to sales and marketing consulting firm CSO Insights, sales reps allocate one-third of their time to administrative and other tasks — reducing their selling time to less than 37 percent of time spent. To date, the appointment-setting process has been defined by phone or email tag and time-consuming ad hoc meeting negotiations to confirm a time that works for both parties. With TimeDriver, sales executives, professionals and service providers spend less time making appointments and more time doing business.

TimeTrade Systems brings significant expertise to scheduling issues through the company's flagship solution for large organizations, including BlueCross BlueShield, Harvard University, Ritz Camera and the Federal Law Enforcement and Training Center. More than 160 million appointments have flowed through TimeTrade's enterprise appointment scheduling software.

TimeDriver (http://www.timedriver.com) is a personal appointment scheduler that embeds a "Schedule Now" button within an invitation email or on a Web site that links directly to available timeslots, spanning days or weeks, which are pre-set by the inviter. This immediate call to action makes it easy for the prospect or customer to pick the date and time most convenient for them and schedule on the spot. TimeDriver automatically sends email confirmations and appointment reminders to the invitee to eliminate "no shows."

TimeDriver works with existing Google or Outlook calendars. When a sales executive, for example, invites prospects to schedule an appointment, TimeDriver offers only those timeslots that do not conflict with other commitments in the executive's calendar. And TimeDriver automatically places the appointments flowing in from invitees into the inviter's Google or Outlook calendar. With a single email sent to many recipients or a simple posting on a Web site, TimeDriver can fill a sales executive's calendar without any phone or email tag or double booking.

"A critical factor in the customer experience is how easy it is to do business with you — whether you're a small business or a large organization," said Ronni Marshak, senior consultant and analyst, Patricia Seybold Group, a consulting firm specializing in improving customer experiences. "A good first interaction helps to shape those perceptions positively. A single scheduling process to drive many appointments — while retaining inviter control — will streamline administrative challenges for the inviter and make it easy for the customer. TimeTrade has leveraged its knowledge and expertise in appointment scheduling technology to create a valuable solution for anyone who has to consistently book appointments across many contacts."

Based on TimeTrade's patent-pending, rules-based technology, TimeDriver offers: powerful one-to-many scheduling capabilities; robust customization; the ability to track and record appointment activities for further sales and service opportunities or business interactions; and — through TimeDriver's rich editor — the opportunity to easily add images and text to invitations and qualifying questions to ensure a positive appointment experience.

"By listening to small, medium and enterprise customers and prospects, we identified an unmet need for a scheduling tool for sales and services and professional individuals to easily drive more appointments," said TimeTrade's CEO Ed Mallen. "Everyone's time is at a premium. TimeDriver's ease of use and on-demand availability makes it ideal for a broad range of applications. For example, a sales executive responding to multiple tradeshow inquiries can schedule demonstrations; a professor can schedule student meetings; a rental agent can schedule tours of an apartment; a purchasing manager can schedule supplier meetings; and an HR manager can set up times to screen job candidates, etc. The possibilities are endless. TimeDriver is a game-changing solution to personal appointment scheduling."

"DEMO is fueled by the exciting innovations that alleviate the challenges we all face at work," said DEMO Executive Producer Chris Shipley. "I'm a champion of tools that look at an old problem from a new angle and make life easier for those of us who have to balance many professional activities and meetings. It's an additional plus when these solutions are borne out of established companies with deep experience and demonstrated success. TimeDriver is a perfect example of leveraging technology and expertise to solve a business challenge shared by anyone who interacts with clients and customers."

"Sales organizations will be chasing substantially increased revenue goals in 2008, and the key to their success will be making more calls and great calls," said Jim Dickie, managing partner, CSO Insights, a firm that benchmarks the challenges faced by sales and marketing professionals. "TimeDriver is a sales tool that acts as a digital assistant for sales professionals, helping them optimize their ability to convert leads to first meetings faster and more effectively than the competition, giving them the first-in-the-door advantage."

TimeDriver will be free for the basic service and will be generally available in Q2, 2008. A limited beta is currently underway and an expanded beta will begin in February. All that is required is an Internet connection and a browser. TimeDriver works with popular browsers including Windows Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox. Security is ensured because TimeDriver is not a calendar-sharing application. Customers are offered timeslots but the user's calendar remains private and protected.

About DEMO

Produced by Network World Events and Executive Forums, the semi-annual DEMO conferences focus on emerging technologies and new products, which are hand-selected from across the spectrum of the technology marketplace. The DEMO conferences have earned their reputation for consistently identifying tomorrow's cutting-edge technologies, and have served as launch pad events for companies such as Palm, E*Trade, Handspring, and U.S. Robotics, helping them to secure venture funding, establish critical business relationships, and influence early adopters. Each DEMO conference features approximately 70 new companies, products and technologies. For more information, visit www.demo.com.

About TimeTrade Systems

TimeTrade Systems is the leading provider of self-service appointment scheduling. The privately held company's more than 300 customers comprise some of the largest brand names in financial services, retail and healthcare, as well as a strong presence in government agencies and education. Customers include David's Bridal, Department of Homeland Security, Quest Diagnostics, NJ Motor Vehicle Commission and PETCO. TimeTrade Systems can be reached at

www.timetrade.com and information on TimeDriver is available at www.timedriver.com.

All product names and references contained herein remain the service marks, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE TimeTrade Systems

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