Call management

Select a full Call handling or a limited Call messaging service	DIS can either deal fully with all the calls that come in to your school, or pass you only the most relevant leads and important messages for you to follow up in person.
Reduced subscription rates for small call volumes	If the number of incoming calls to your driving school is unlikely to exceed 25 each month, you will be eligible for a "lite" version of either of our Call management options.
Your calls answered 8 till 8 weekdays, 9 till 5 Saturdays	Our UK based office-staff are contactable 12 hours a day, giving potential and existing pupils access to your business at times you wouldn't normally be available.
All calls answered personally in your own trade name	Our advanced telephony allows us to recognise and deal with many incoming calls simultaneously, even identifying individual pupils and allowing us to greet them by name.
We validate addresses and collect all data you require	Our postcode checker validates enquiries to reduce false calls and prevent mistakes, with selective forced-input options for items like email addresses and licence details.
Our industry-specific staff can deal with all pupils' queries	We only work for the driver training industry, so we can answer questions about licensing and learning, as well as telling potential pupils which of your products might be best for them.
Divert multiple phones to DIS' centralised office	You, (and your instructors), can all divert your mobiles, landlines and non-generic, (0800, 0845), numbers to us, as and when you want, and for as long as you want.
You control when, and for how long, you divert your calls	Home and Business lines, and even Mobiles, can all be diverted for as long as you want; many subscribers divert to us permanently for a truly cost-effective call-answering solution.
Unique landline number that only you will be diverting to	Advanced telephony identifies incoming calls for your school and automatically presents your data to our staff ensuring that we deal with the call exclusively on your behalf.
Our multiple lines reduces lost calls and ring-backs	We aim to avoid missed calls altogether, but at particularly busy periods we capture "missed called" numbers and initiate a prompt callback service if necesary.
We filter unwanted sales calls and time-wasters	Pushy and unsolicited callers will be politely greeted but firmly handled. Their call will be logged if you are interested in their product you can contact them at your discretion.
We can alter and amend appointments while you teach	We can keep your diary up to date behind the scenes, allowing existing pupils to call your office at any time to check or amend their lessons without disturbing you on the road.
We can reschedule your lessons in case of emergency	Breakdown? Sickness? Last minute crisis? We can contact your pupils and reschedule their appointments tactfully explaining why you’re not able to attend as arranged.
We can deal with sensitive day-to-day issues that arise	We can tactfully remind pupils of your Ts and Cs if they try to cancel without notice or good reason, shielding you from any awkwardness if some pupils try to take advantage of you.
Urgent calls are texted to you for your immediate attention	If you have left instructions for a caller to be notified to you when they call, or if an important issue needs your personal and swift attention, you will be notified straight away by text.
Your own Voicemail recoirds your out of hours calls	Create your own out-of-hours Voicemail message and be automatically alerted to new messages or have DIS deal with those messages on your behalf.
All calls are recorded for training and quality purposes	In the event of complaint or dispute we can check the actual recording of any call taken, differentiating between a false allegation and genuine misunderstanding.
All your instructors can enjoy the benefits	All individual instructors in a driving school can divert their own calls, and have almost all the text facilities, end of year accounts, etc., as a result of their association to your brand.
Prevent interruptions whilst lessons are conducted	Instructors can avoid the temptation of fussing with their mobile phone whilst on lessons by collecting their messages immediately after the appointment is finished.
We're much cheaper than own staff wages and overheads	As well having to contend with premises costs and H&S obligations, only the largest driving schools can afford to pay office staff and comply with EU employment legislation.
Larger schools can use us as back-up to their existing office	Multi-car schools already running with their own office overheads can choose to divert only if their own staff are busy, or when support is needed due to staff holidays or sickness.
But we don't just answer your phones	As well as taking your telephone calls, we can deal with your emails, texts, (and Voicemails), all of which can be diverted whenever - and for as long as - you want.
And, we guarantee to be cheaper than our competitors	If you're currently using another service provider, we promise that our subscriptions will not be greater than what are currently being charged for a like-for-like service.

Pupil services

Card payments taken from your pupils over the phone	We can process card payments over the phone directly into your Merchant Account on your behalf, with no surcharge or handling charge being made by DIS, or you can use DIS' own VT facility.
We can book theory and practical tests for your pupils	We can book theory and practical tests for your pupils on your behalf in line with the instructions you give us, with no extra administration charge for the facility provided.
Our staff are trained to convert enquiries into bookings	Because we can access your prices and products and have details of your availability, we can book an initial lesson for a new pupil, or take their details for you to book yourself.
We can book new pupils directly into your diary	Our staff will spend considerable time taking full details of each booking and agreeing a time and pick up with every new pupil that wants to arrange an initial lesson with you.
We can contact prospective new pupils on your behalf	Whether you get texts or emails sent to you directly, you can forward them to us so we can contact them, deal with any queries they might have and book them on your behalf.
We can contact pupils not rebooked at the end of lesson	Whatever reason your pupils may give for not rebooking in the car at the end of their lesson, (unknown work-shifts or going on holiday. etc.), we’re on the case.
Important feedback to help improve your service	Where pupils are not rebooked, we can tactfully try to find out their reason and present you with information that may be of help to you in your CPD.
We can contact test failures to rebook them	A prompt call by your office as soon as possible after a test failure can save the day by offering to quickly rebook another test to maintain momentum in their learning process.
Full admin support for your intensive course products	If you offer intensive courses, we can book them directly into your diary and arrange both theory tests and practical tests to suit the pupil’s availability and course completion.
Additional sales for PassPlus or Advanced lessons	Pupil passed test? We can call or text successful pupils to congratulate them on their test pass and offer an incentive to them if they book additional lessons.
Pupil reallocation facility within the DIS community	If you are registered for our Pupil Reallocation service we may be able to offer you pupils from other DIS subscribers who do not cover an area that YOU do.
Extra lessons can be booked online using website plug-ins	After filtering by postcode, car type and lesson duration, a selection of appropriate available slots will be displayed to potential pupils for them to book there-and-then online.
Easily reserve slots for prepaid pupils or recurring lessons	You can increase your advance bookings by pre-selling lessons directly into your diary for as many weeks in advance that you want using a simple click of your mouse.

Free text facilities

Texts can help your business run at peak efficiency	Text receipts can be sent to confirm payments received and the next booking made, or to advise pupils of any change in lesson appointments that have been booked
You can cherry-pick as many or as few text options as you want	You can select from a large number of automated texts to be sent on your behalf as well creating manual texts that can be generated to selected pupils or pupil types.
All texts are sent free of charge via DIS' system	There is no charge for sending texts, or for automated texts being sent on your behalf, and a time-stamped "text-received" confirmation is provided as standard.
Automated lesson-reminders help avoid misunderstandings	Automated reminder texts can be sent to every pupil the day before their lesson is due to be taken, but also advising that it's too late to cancel without a charge.
Automated texts confirm test details with pupils	To bring clarity and focus, automated text reminds test pupils to bring both parts of their provisional licence with them when you collect them on the day of their test.
Automated goodwill texts shows your pupils that you care	Automated congratulation texts can be sent to test-pass pupils as well as automatically generated Birthday, Christmas and New Year greeting texts to all your current pupils.
Instructor texts communicate important business matters	Advisory texts can be sent to the instructor each time we book a new pupil, whilst instant texts are generated of on-the-day cancellations and urgent messages.
A huge variety of texts can be sent to pupils and instructors	Individual texts can be sent to current or ex pupils, (or, for multi-car schools, to your instructors), and a global pupil-text facility can be used for one-off special-offer initiatives.

Website plug-ins

Free DIS designer website templates of your choice	Customise our designer templates or design your own using our WordPress templates as a cost effective alternative to having your own website built.
Free website hosting of your own website by DIS	Using one of our websites or your own, there's absolutely no charge to DIS for hosting your website on our secure servers - our monthly subscription covers it all.
New pupils can book directly into available slots online	Our Check Prices and Book Online plug-in enables potential pupils to filter their requirements and check available slots before booking an initial lesson live online.
Pupils can log in to access their own records, 24/7 from anywhere	You can allow your pupils to view their own records, (including their payments, products and progress scores, etc.), and permit them to amend their lessons if you so wish.
Redirect your Contact us emails to us for instant reply	Your website's existing Contact Us form can be set up so that anyone sending an email enquiry can be forwarded to us for an instant response on your behalf.
Meet our instructors allows pupils to express a preference	You can incorporate a photograph and write up about each of your school's instructors into your standard website facility using this popular website plug-in.
Offer Gift vouchers for purchase direct from your website	Particularly useful for birthdays or to promote as Christmas presents, pupils can click on your website to download a voucher in various denominations.
Enable Call me back for immediate return-call by DIS	For potential pupils who may be short of credit on their phone, this plug in sends an instant alert for us to contact this pupil to answer their questions and try to book them up.
Set Instructor login for online access via your own website	Instructors from multi-car schools can access their records by logging on to their own Online Office directly from an Instructor section on the school's own website.

Accounts & Reports

Online Office Dashboard provides summary of daily stats	The current and previous week's summary totals of charges, payments, pupil numbers and lessons are displayed on screen every time an instructor logs in.
We support you with a variety of analyses for your business	Because data can be inputted quickly and easily each working day, it doesn't take long to be able to generate a series of highly relevant and informative statistical reports.
A Lesson History is a summary of work you’ve conducted	This report shows the lessons charged and taken in any period, together with the payments received, distinguishing between an instructor's own pupils and those provided by the school.
A Driving test analysis helps CPD and increase pass rates	Detailed test results highlight your pupils' most common failure points and your track record with individual examiners to help you improve the way you present your lessons.
Postcode coverage can be checked and amended instantly	Postcode coverage compares where your calls are coming from and identifies localities that you might want to consider adding to your working area.
Several marketing reports help fine tune your target market	Every caller is asked where he or she got your details, providing a clear indication of what advertising media works, helping you to spend your advertising budget more effectively.
Free accounting facilities are available for every instructor	All instructors working under the same brand are entitled to make use of the end of year accounting facilities that will be personalised to their own turnover and expenditures.
A Creditors list shows money owed to you by pupils	A detailed printout provides full details of pupils who still owe for lessons or products together with a list of all balances written off or credited by you during the period.
A Debtors list shows prepaid money you owe pupils	A detailed printout provides full details of outstanding money owed to pupils who have prepaid lessons, (in case they request a refund), and any refunds agreed but as yet unpaid.
A Cash Flow statement helps track income and expenditure	A report is instantly available listing all the payments you have taken and placing them on a report comparing your monthly income and expenditure during a given period.
Full Profit and Loss accounts and Balance Sheets	You can produce a Profit and Loss statement and Balance sheet for you to present to your accountant for checking, or to the Inland Revenue for them to calculate any tax liability.
Sales and Retention reports are vital for multi-car schools	To help understand how best to allocate resources, a Sales report shows the number of lessons booked per instructor whilst Retention rates shows non-test pupil losses.
(Optional) alerts can help all instructors keep on track	Automated messages can advise of apparent discrepancies between your Charges and Receipts to help you keep your daily inputs accurate and keep your records up to date.
Pupil records are exportable to outside applications	All pupil data stored is quickly and easily transferable to third party software for mail shots, or separate data storage, or to generate your own reports outside our systems.

Professional support

Help is available throughout our Online Office system	Each of our screens has its own link to outline how that screen works, and to help you understand, in your own time, how you can make best use of that facility.
Personal support is tailor-made for you and your business	Every subscriber also has their own account-mentor to guide them day-to-day, and to advise and assist them in using our services for their maximum benefit.
Instant telephone support to get the best from our systems	We offer one-to-one mentoring to determine the best strategy for your driving school and a telephone induction service for you and all new instructors working under your brand.
Free access to our comprehensive manuals	Our Online Office Resource centre provides downloadable manuals to assist you in marketing your business, lesson planning and help you get a good check test grade.
Detailed lesson plans that can be printed out for your pupils	Available as handouts that can be printed and given out on your lessons to your pupils, or forwarded as an attachments via your Mobile App as part of your End of Lesson receipt.
Get interesting feedback from others in our industry	Our Online Office community Forum provides a platform for discussion on important issues or just random points of interest with your industry contemporaries up and down the UK.
Free telephone advice to get a good check-test grading	Our trainers are on hand to give you considered and practical telephone advice to help you get a good check-test grade or to clarify points raised by pupils during lessons.
ADI training from our affiliated grade 6 ORDIT trainers	We can arrange in-car ORDIT training for check-test preparation, remedial advice and part 2 and part 3 training at spectacularly reduced rates for you, or any of your instructors.
Highly qualified legal and business advice, free of charge	We boast post-graduate qualifications in Business and Law and will help you prepare Ts and Cs, use small claims procedures and adhere to Advertising Standards.
Legal and business mentoring to help you grow your business	Whether you need individual instructor agreements, or want to expand your school using Business Format Franchising, we can save you thousands in legal fees.
Free Marketing- newsletters are a mine of information	Regular email advice from our affiliated marketing consultant will cover Search Engine Optimisation, Marketing through Social Networking and much, much more.

Mobile Applications

Our mobile phone application shows live data as it is entered	Your mobile-phone can instantly link to your Online Office from anywhere in the world and is specifically designed to transfer data quickly and accurately whilst on the move.
Communicate with DIS and your instructors via our Intranet	Our mobile application allows you to communicate directly with the DIS office in breaks between lessons, or whilst your waiting for your pupil to return from a driving test.
Messages presented according to importance	All messages can be read and dealt with via your mobile as soon as they are received, reducing the number of call-backs you might have to do after your working day is over.
Access your business records whilst you're on the road	Many of your business records will be available for you to check or amend via your mobile phone, allowing you to prioritise your workload for maximum efficiency.
Dealing with daily reminders or lesson clashes	You can choose quiet times in your day to deal with reminders or rearrange lessons, rather than dealing with them at home when you might prefer to relax.
Process pupils' card payments via your mobile phone	Link through our mobile phone application to take card payments, paid directly into your own PayPal account, and to issue a receipt to the pupil on confirmation of payment.
End of Lesson receipts promote good practice	Avoid misunderstanding by entering End of Lesson data in the car. then copy it to your pupil by text or email as evidence of progress, payments, products and next appointments.
Monitor pupils' progress using our detailed lesson syllabus	Our 33 point lesson syllabus allows structured learning to take place and progress to be recorded lesson by lesson and accessed by pupils online at any time.

..... and Finally

DIS is owned by instructors and is working for instructors	With over 35 years driver training experience, our owner has an enviable record of developing and running small, medium and large driving school businesses.
We develop our own software for use in your business	We own and control virtually all the software that we use, which gives us flexibility in our service and an ability to respond promptly to requests for new development.
Great new features are being added all the time	Many of our unique facilities had their origins in suggestions made by our existing subscribers, such as our automated texts, website plug-ins and a variety of reporting functions.
Our Quality practices reflect our Quality services	We follow quality assurance practices, (formally registered under both ISO 9001 and Investor in People standards), to underpin our entire core service support.
We offer straight-forward Ts and Cs written in plain English	If you decide to take a free 30 day trial of our service, you will be given the opportunity to read our terms and conditions, which we believe are fair and reasonable for each of us.
No long term commitment is required from you	If you decide not to subscribe at the end of your free trial, simply don't complete our DD; otherwise, 7 days notice is all that is needed to cancel a standard subscription.
Larger schools have complete control over their business	Multi-car driving school owners can access all diaries so they, (or DIS, or their own staff), can take bookings, with every transaction faithfully recorded during the booking process.
We can tailor-make a range of service options for your school	Most driving schools work along generally similar lines, but we can put together a bespoke range of services to suit your school's specific requirements if required.
Have you got paranoid instructors or technophobes?	We can provide a package with as many, or as few, of the unique features we have available, allowing your instructors to retain their own total independence if required.
Nothing is compulsory and there are always alternatives	For example, our standard diary tracks Payments and Products but a simple option quickly updates a diary without linking to pupils, allowing staff to take bookings with anonymity.
We aim to be so much better than any of our competitors	We are open longer hours, develop our own software, have a broader range of services and can respond to your requirements much quicker than any of our industry competitors.
Our subscription costs less than a single weekly lesson	There are no hidden charges. Our sole-trader monthly fee of £99 works out at less than £23 per week for our Full service, and the rate could be less than that if you cherry-pick your options.
We give loyalty discounts for long term subscribers	We offer discounts for Software only licenses, larger driving school contracts and long term subscribers, and between 2010 and 2013 our rates dropped for many standard rate subscribers.
Let the taxman help you with your subscriptions	Our subscriptions are fully tax-deductible, being wholly and exclusively for your business, with regular invoice-receipts being generated as proof of payment.
We have secure storage with full off-site data back-up	Our on-site servers back-up off-site several times a day to ensure data integrity. In the event of catastrophic failure, full data retrieval can be effected within an hour.
We are fully compliant with the Data Protection Act 1998	We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office to process personal information and we comply fully with the eight principles of the Data Protection Act.
Everything we do is completely transparent and accountable	Every call we take for you is displayed in your Message Centre as a Primary message, (e.g. booking made), or Secondary message, (e.g. Sales call), according to preceived importance.
Detailed transaction logs record how effective we are	Every call is analysed and manually accounted for, whilst detailed call logs record how long we take to answer a call and how long we spend dealing with each call we take.