A booking page that works while you do not

As an example, a client writes to ask for a meeting. You reply with two times and they cannot make either. You send more. That is three emails to find one time, and the meeting is not yet in the diary.

That is a slow way to win a client, and it is the kind of work that fills an owner's week without anyone noticing. A booking page is the plain fix: instead of proposing times, you let the client pick one from the times you have already said are free.

This post covers what a good booking page does, what to decide before you set one up, and what it cannot do.

Why the back and forth costs you clients

Every email in that thread is a pause. The client who asked is waiting, and a client who is waiting is also looking at your competitors. Some will not wait for the third reply. You never learn about those, because they simply stop writing.

There is a second cost, which is attention. Each time you check your calendar to offer a time, you stop what you were doing. A booking page moves that check to the moment of booking, and takes you out of it.

What a good booking page does

A booking page is simple on the surface. Underneath, a good one respects four things.

Your calendar is the truth. It reads your Google Calendar, so a time that is busy there is never offered to a client. If it did not, you would have double bookings, which is worse than the email thread.

You choose what is offered. You pick the meetings you offer, such as a first call or a site visit, and the hours you work. You can leave a pause between meetings and ask for a minimum notice, so nobody books a call ten minutes from now.

It says where you meet. On Google Meet, by phone, at your address or on your own video link. The client sees it before they book.

It asks what you need to know. You can set questions, and the answers arrive with the booking in your calendar, so you walk in knowing why the client came.

Decide these things first

Before you turn a page on, settle a few choices. They are easy to change later, but a sensible start saves you correcting it.

1. Which meetings do you offer? Start with the one that turns a stranger into a client, usually a first call. You can add more later.
2. What are your hours for it? They do not have to be all your working hours. Giving first calls only certain afternoons keeps the rest of the week for the work.
3. How much notice do you need? Choose what protects you.
4. Where do you meet? Pick the default, and add the others if you use them.
5. What do you ask? Keep it to what you need before the call; every extra question is one more thing for the client to fill in.

What happens when plans change

People move meetings. You can move or cancel any meeting from your calendar page, and the client is told, so you do not have to write the message yourself.

If you already use a booking tool and like it, you do not have to throw it out. Your page can send clients to it instead.

What a booking page cannot do

It is worth being honest here too.

• It does not decide who deserves your time. Anyone who can see the page can book. If you want to screen first, offer a short first call and keep the longer meetings for later.
• It only knows your Google Calendar. If you keep a second calendar somewhere else, it cannot see it. Put everything in one place first.
• It does not do the meeting. It gets the right person into the right slot. What you say when they arrive is still yours.

Where we come in

Our bookings service gives you your own booking page, with the meetings you offer and the hours you work. Clients pick a day and a free time, and the booking lands in your Google Calendar with their answers to your questions. You also get one page that shows your day at a glance: your meetings, your free time today and the calls clients booked.

You choose the meetings, the hours and the places. You can read more on the bookings page.

Nothing about it needs you to be online. A client can book at eleven at night on a Sunday, and on Monday morning the meeting is in your calendar.

Talk to us

If you want to see whether a booking page fits your business, book a call.