Canadian Virtual Assistants
Calendly – The Best Scheduling Tool For Business Owners
Networking and business meetings are crucial for business development. How many times has someone reached out to you to set up a meeting and you leave the conversation to find a time on your calendar?
What about potential clients? Did you lose out on that big opportunity because you were so busy going back and forth trying to find a time that works for both of you? This scenario happens all too often. Business owners need to have a simple option of booking appointments and meetings.
Which scheduling software is best for me?
There are hundreds of scheduling tools for business owners. You will need to take into consideration exactly what you need the software for. Here are a few questions to ask when finding the perfect scheduling app.
1. How many appointments do I typically schedule?
2. Am I scheduling different types of appointments?
3. Do I need a payment gateway connected to my scheduling app?
4. How many calendars am I currently using (personal, family, business etc.)
5. What email program am I using for business?
Our Favorite Scheduling App - Calendly
As a business support company, we get to try different softwares, programs, and apps. We have decided on our top scheduling app and want to share it with you.
Calendly is by far our favorite booking tool. It is extremely user friendly. You simply create an account, sync your main calendar, create an event type, and share your URL with people you want to book with.
Calendly has a free version where you can have one main event type. This is good for business owners who are looking to just connect with others. The premium version does allow for unlimited event types and is very affordable at $15/month. This paid version is ideal for business owners who offer numerous services that can be booked.
Our Favorite Calendly Features
Buffer Time
If you prefer not to have back to back meetings during the day, Calendly has an option for buffer times. You can customize the time you want free before and after each booking. This is great if you need some time to write notes, grab a bite to eat or simply just take a break.
Set your own booking hours
How nice would it be to ensure people are booking with you during your actual business hours? You can do this with Calendly! You can even change the available booking hour for each day. So, say you want to only work until 3:00 on Fridays, you can make it so that your last meeting ends at exactly that time! Cheers!
Limit the meetings you want to book in a day
Although networking is a great way to grow your business, it can also be very time consuming. With Calendly, you have the option to set a limit of bookings for each event type. You can set it up so that you have 1 networking meeting per day, but you have an unlimited amount of client consultations. Pretty awesome!
Each event type has its own URL
Once you have your different event types set up, you can share the specific URL to the event with the individual you are booking with. This is a great way to keep your appointments organized and to remember what the meetings are about.
Hide events from your main page, making them only accessible for people you share the link with
With Calendly you will have a main page where you can see all your event ptyes. So, if you send someone your main URL, they will be able to book any event on that page. However, what is amazing about this setup is that you can hide events that you do not want public. So, lets say you do a one on one training that is paid and people need to register for, you would want to hide that from your main page so people cannot book it without the link.
Export your meeting list into your company database
Want to save the contact information of your booked appointments? No problem! With Calendly, all your bookings are saved including their contact information. You can easily export the list and add it to your company’s database.
Personalize questions to ask during the booking process
Are you looking to gather specific information from the people who are booking with you? Calendly allows you to customize the questions you ask on the booking form. You can even make questions that include checkboxes and written text.
There are so many great features with Calendly. The best part is that it is simple to use and easy to learn.
If you need help setting up your Calendly account, contact us for assistance. We are here to help! Don't miss out on our FREE Time Management Training Series!
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