With the rise of self-service booking platforms, like Acuity, people are able to automate their weekly sales meeting bookings but often not in the most efficient way. You might have a full calendar with appointments zig-zagging across town and no travel minimisation strategies in place.
One strategy that we recommend to clients is to set up their scheduling / booking calendar page in a way that works best for your workflow. An example of a week’s availability could be:
- Monday – partial availability for in-office appointments on booking calendar. Arrive in office for morning team meeting, then emails, then have afternoon as being open to having people book in-office appointments with 15-minute intervals between scheduling.
- Tuesday – no availability on booking calendar. A member of your team can proactively go through your top client list (perhaps using a tool to view all your clients on a map) and book appointments that minimise travel time.
- Wednesday – full availability for in-office appointments on booking calendar.
- Thursday – no availability on booking calendar. A member of your team can proactively go through your top client list (perhaps using a tool to view all your clients on a map) and book appointments that minimise travel time.
- Friday – partial availability for in-office appointments on booking calendar. Keep the afternoon free for team meetings and preparation for next week (perhaps tying activity to OKR benchmarks) and have the morning free for self-service bookings.
I’ll often add the option for self-service bookings of phone calls during in-office days or at intervals during an on-the-road day. Finally, by setting up your visibility settings well, you can show specific self-booking options to new clients, other booking options for existing clients and more generous booking options to VIP clients.
