You know the old story Connie was a busy client that wanted to schedule some time with Sue. She sent an email to Sue letting her know because she was thinking about it at 11pm Tuesday night. Sue got the email at 8:30 Wednesday morning and responded with a couple of times she would have available to meet in the next week. Connie saw the email right away but didnt have time to check her schedule right then. The email slipped down a few spots in her inbox and then she forgot.
A couple of days later, Connie was going through her emails and found the appointment options. She chose the one that would work for her and responded to Sue. Only Sue had gone ahead and scheduled something else in those time slots since she hadnt heard from Connie. Back to square one.
How much time has been wasted by trying to coordinate schedules? It seems like it is a never ending process and one that I didnt want to deal with in my business where I regularly meet with coaching clients and offer complimentary strategy sessions. The scheduling was getting to be a nightmare so I had to find a solution!
There are easily a hundred different scheduling programs out there including vCita, SimplyBook.Me and more. The one you choose will depend on a lot of factors including whether you are a brick and mortar business or you need something more like a CRM (customer relationship manager).
When it comes to the basic stuff, I use Timetrade.com. (Note: I do not receive any benefit from sharing this information). The only thing I need this program to do is share my calendar with my prospects and clients and allow them to pick a time that works best for them based on my availability. The system then reserves that time and sends me an email while adding it instantly to me calendar. All I have to do is show up!
TimeTrade integrates with my Google calendar (also with Outlook and iCal) so that it only shows my available times. In addition, I can designate certain times of the day/week that I want to be available, regardless of what is already scheduled on my calendar. For example, if I dont prefer to take appointments on Thursdays, I can tell TimeTrade not to schedule on Thursdays even if my calendar shows time available. Or maybe I like to only book in the afternoons. You set the times/days and then it pulls from your calendar what is left to share that with your contact. No more double booking!
Using scheduling software for anyone that is setting appointments is a must. The amount of time you will save will surprise you!