Have you seen an increase in appointments since you started using TimeCenter?
The most amazing fact is that 4 out of 5 businesses get more appointments now than before they had TimeCenter. The chart below shows that a third of those have a LOT more appointments than before. That's really great news, proving that online scheduling actually makes you more money!
How did you handle appointment scheduling before TimeCenter, and what were the major challenges you faced?
A few businesses used TimeCenter right from the start, which we think is
awesome. But for the others, there were a lot of reasons to switch to online appointment scheduling.
Most businesses used to receive appointments by phone, and wrote them down in an appointment book. The challenge with this is that they were hard to reach, since most of them don't answer their phone during an appointment. Many believe that this made them miss out on several appointments.
Booking in an appointment book, was clumsy and time consuming.
Angela Eklöw, Angelas Beauty Base
I had to set aside time each day to call clients who wanted to book or reschedule.
Carl Linde, Carpus Massage
Now I can exercise, work and get appointments at the same time.
Karin Albiner, Naprapath
Many hours each week was being spent on phoning clients who left a message on the answering machine. This takes a lot of time at the end of each day, and some makes calls to their clients when they're on a break, making it hard to really relax. Several business owners also felt the need to answer the phone and take appointments when at home with their family, which causes stress.
Some were half way to online scheduling by using e-mail to accept appointments. The biggest challenges with this were that the clients didn't get a confirmation right away, and if it took too long, the client sometimes made an appointment with a competitor.
For the businesses with several staff members, there were a lot of papers everywhere, and trying to assist each other with making appointments often led to double bookings and confusion.
Another challenge that was mentioned was no shows. The clients simply forgot about the appointment. Several business owners thinks it difficult to charge for the missed appointment, with the risk of the client never showing up again.
How has TimeCenter helped your business?
They threw out the appointment book and shut off their phone. They started sending text messages to clients who made appointments. What happened next?
Thanks to the text reminders sent to the clients cell phones, many businesses have noticed that they have much less no shows. The ability for the business owners to receive text messages when they get new appointments is also appreciated.
Several of our customers, especially beauty salons say that they get a lot more customers and appointments. They think it's because the clients have so much services to choose from. Services that they didn't know existed when booking by phone.
TimeCenter means everything for me! My customers just love it and as I am self employed, I could not do without it.
Matilda Klingener, Studio 34
I get 5-6 new clients each week, and nobody misses their appointment thanks to the text reminders.
Pernilla Svensson, Soleus Massage & Health
TimeCenter saved me a lot of time and frustration by decreasing my
calls and call backs by 75%.
Marcia Male, Wilson Acupuncture and Healing Arts Center
The self-employed companies says that it's a great relief, now that the phone rings less. Businesses that have a receptionist have noticed that the receptionist's work load is greatly reduced.
Another interesting point is that very much time was previously wasted in collecting the client's contact information, which had to be done manually. Saving all of this in a database really helped a lot and made the appointment booking more efficient.
The biggest benefit that most business owner mentioned is that their clients can make appointments whenever they feel like it, regardless of whether they're working, they're on a break or in bed at home sleeping.
Why did you choose TimeCenter?
The benefits of online scheduling are pretty obvious, but why do our customers choose TimeCenter? There are several appointment scheduling services to choose from. What makes us so special?
The main reason mentioned by many of the respondants is that it's really easy to use. They think it's user friendly, and their clients thinks it's easy to make an appointment. Great! This was and still is the cornerstone of the development of TimeCenter.
We also got a lot of comments that TimeCenter has a very good price, and the fact that there were no starting fee was appreciated.
Less time spent on the phone doing bookings.
Jessica Abegg, Sanctuary Massage & Wellness
Very easy to use from both therapist and user point of view. Nice to
look at.
Simone Bradshaw Clinical Hypnotherapist
My clients think that the service is very good. My online schedule haven't been down a single minute in 15 months of use.
Erik Olsson, Naprapath
Many of our customers think that we have a quick and very helpful support, even before buying a subscription. We appreciate these comments, because we put a lot of effort in helping each and everyone, even if it means explaining why TimeCenter might not be suited for them.
A lot of our customers switched to us from a competitor. Either because they were too expensive, too hard to use, or that their service had a lot of technical problems. One user also noted that TimeCenter has less features, which they prefer from other over-complicated and feature-flooded services.
One respondent made us raise our eyebrows. He said he chose us because he liked our name. "It makes sense and sounds professional". Well thank you! :)
Have you recommended TimeCenter to anyone?
It's great to have a community of loyal users, and knowing that you
recommend us to your friends, is a confirmation that TimeCenter is
really good. We're very happy to hear that 90% of our users have recommended
TimeCenter to a friend or collegue. We're even more happy reading how they described it:
An effective time efficient solution to booking appointments. Like having
your own receptionist for less money and hassle.
Beth Rogerson
PhD
An affordable option from the online schedulers available. Also great
customer service!
Jessica Abegg, Sanctuary Massage & Wellness
Convenient SMS reminders and time-saving online booking, where the
customers do the job.
Marcus Hortlund, KMH Photography
Very easy to set up and maintain. Text messaging is a big plus.
Dean Stewart Photography
Anything else you would like to share with us? We'd love to hear your feedback.
As most online services, we get a lot of feature requests each week. We try to keep TimeCenter as simple as possible, and create only the features that are useful for everyone and are really good.
One of the most requested features is what could be called My calendar. A button/link somewhere to access your calendar in one click. This is a really good idea. We admit that it might require a few extra clicks to reach your calendar in some situations.
Many users appreciate the ability to sync with iPhone. Since you can't make appointments directly from the calendar in iPhone, some have shown an interest in an iPhone app, which basically is a stripped version of the normal TimeCenter, but better suited to the small screens of mobile devices. We like this a lot, and this will probably come sometime in a not too distant future.
For those of you working with events, like Yoga or other events where several people meet at once, there were some requests. One is to make it easier to send an e-mail or text message to everyone signed up for an event. It's a good idea, and we'll probably make it easier to handle event registrations in the future.
Some interesting questions and answers from one of our customers
How did you handle appointment scheduling before TimeCenter, and what were the major challenges you faced?
Clients called me to schedule appointments (playing phone tag) and I had to hire someone to call to remind them of their appointments.
How has TimeCenter helped your business?
Clients miss fewer appointments and really appreciate the reminders they receive. Also, clients can schedule their own appointments and don't have to wait for me to return their calls.
Why did you choose TimeCenter?
Convenience and efficiency.
Shirley B. Johnson, Stable Life Counseling
This is all really cool, but did i win?
If you've been reading this far, you're probably wondering who the lucky winner of the 12 month TimeCenter subscription is. All survey respondants were put together in a bowl. We shook it around, and out came a note with a name on. The lucky winner is Karins Nature clinic from Sweden. Congratulations!
TimeCenter in the future
Our vision is to make TimeCenter easier, faster and more fun to use.
Keep in touch with us and let us know what you like and dislike about
TimeCenter, and we'll keep on making the best online scheduling software
for you!
Feel free to post a comment and tell us what you think about the survey.
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Get your clients talking about you
This is the most important aspect in branding. Each business must stand for something in order to remain unique in the marketplace. The biggest threat in business is no doubt competition. But if you brand yourself correctly, with a true vision that shows you offer your services in a unique special way, you will naturally attract customers. Think about your vision, or ways that you and your services are unique to your customer and build on that. Do you specialize in something special? Do you offer your services in a unique approach? We all have something unique to offer in business. Convey this effectively and it will pay off.
Another very important factor in branding your business, a USP conveys a direct statement about your business to the marketplace. You want your USP to make a specific claim such as "buy our service and get this benefit". You also want to make sure that your USP is unique and has not been used within your marketplace before. Also, make sure your offer is so strong that it has the ability to pull people towards you. A great example of a well know USP is "You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less -- or it's free." Domino's Pizza.
About the author
We're celebrating the January 27th Apple event here at TimeCenter with a nice Apple dessert. Here's the recipe for the delightful snack to enjoy while watching.