I am always trying to find things that will create a better client experience when working with us here at Divorce661.
To that end, I recently signed up for a service called “Calendly” which is software that I installed on this website that allows people to schedule appointments for a variety of reasons.
For now I have set it up where people who are potential new clients can click a link (see the blue button on the bottom right of this page) and be taken to my calendar where they can schedule a consultation appointment.
Why did I do this?
The reason I did this was because the majority of my clients are busy professionals and work 9 to 5 and have their lives going on. When people try to reach me, I may be on the phone or with a client in my office which results in them calling, only to leave a message with my receptionist.
Then, when I am free I call back to answer their questions, only to get their voicemail. I have had times where a new client has called, I called them back, they called me back and this went on for 3 rounds before we got to actually speak.
Now this is a frustrating and time consuming situation for me and for the people trying to reach me and not the type of first impression I want to create.
Here is what it looks like when scheduling an appointment.
I was first turned onto this when I signed up for another service called Ontraport which is a service that helps me stay in contact with clients, follow up on leads and track sales.
When I signed up for them, the service included 2 free hours of coaching. They sent me a link and said I could schedule the best time that worked for me. I found the scheduling to be very easy and after I made my appointment, Calendly sent me not only a confirmation email, but a link to add the appointment to my calendar.
Even more impressive was that the day of the appointment, Calendly sent me an email reminder of the appointment. The email reminder also had additional links that allowed me to cancel or reschedule my appointment.
What I liked most is that when I did get this reminder email and then discovered I had a conflict with my schedule or simply needed to reschedule, all I had to do was click the reschedule link and set up a new time.
I didn’t have to call or leave a message for anyone.
Then I started thinking about my business. Previously, I would go back and forth either on the phone or via email trying to coordinate a time to speak with a new client. Then, even when we found a time, I would sometimes get a call the day of the appointment where they would leave a message saying they needed to reschedule.
Then here we were again with 15 emails trying to coordinate a time to meet again.
Now with Calendly I just send a link via email and my clients have access to my calendar. They don’t see my calendar, rather see a list of times available.
As I just set this up this week, I have not had much time to experiment, except for just one time yesterday. I found myself going back in forth with emails trying to schedule a call for next week. After the 5th email I said to myself, “Hey dummy, use the Calendly link”.
So in my last email I sent over the link and told my client to simply check out my schedule and select a date and time convenient for her. Within 5 minutes I received a confirmation of an appointment with her for next week. No more emails back and forth.
I am hoping to find additional ways to use Calendly to not only improve the client experience, but to save time and frustration as a business owner.
