Save Time By Automating Your Scheduling

Let’s set the stage for this post. Skit scripting skills in 3…2…1…

You: “When can we set up a meeting?”

Client: “When are you free?”

You: “I’m free Tuesday after 2pm or Thursday before noon. If neither of those times works for you, we can try to meet on the weekend possibly.”

Client: “I may be able to do it Thursday but Wednesday really would work better for me.”

And the conversation goes back and forth until you can figure out a time that works for both you and your client. I don’t even have to ask if you’ve ever experienced something like this. If you are in a business where you schedule meetings with clients, I already know you have.

Sometimes it ends up taking longer to schedule a meeting than the actual duration of the meeting. With all this wonderful technology floating around, there is no need to go through this madness every single time. It is a huge help to have everything on your calendar, even if it’s old school pen and paper style. When you add scheduling to your online calendar, it makes life so much more easy!

The online calendar that I was introduced to is called Acuity Scheduling. I signed up for the free version and have since upgraded. I haven’t turned back because it is full of features that I didn’t think were important until I had them available to me. Acuity makes it super simple for current and new clients to schedule a meeting with me. I just give them my link (thedesigndiva.as.me) and they can set up one of my custom meeting types like a Creative Consultation or a Web Queen Pow Wow in just a couple of minutes. And they select from the time slots that I’ve already set up for client meetings. No back and forth messaging. No checking my calendar. No missed opportunities.

I even share my link on social media and invite people to set up a free consultation or Q&A with me. And yes, I’ve gotten new clients following a few of those posts.

Another online scheduler that I’ve set a few clients up on is 10 to 8. It doesn’t have as many bells and whistles as Acuity Scheduling but it works well for setting appointments. And the thing I like about 10 to 8 is that they have client reminders via text in their free version.

So is it worth the investment to have a professional scheduling system that automates meeting set ups? My response is a resounding yes! I recommend at least trying out the free version of one of the online schedulers and see how it can increase your efficiency.

Click here to try Acuity Scheduling

Click here to try 10 to 8