DEAR DAN: My service business lives or dies by appointments. But scheduling is often a nightmare. Are Web-based scheduling solutions worth exploring? — Unscheduled
DEAR UNSCHEDULED: If you run a service-based business that depends on customer appointments or reservations for survival, your life is about to change. Web-based, self-service customer appointment scheduling is taking the small-business world by storm.
Much like ATMs have revolutionized banking by serving customers quickly at reduced cost, self-serve appointment scheduling online will help alleviate the growing difficulty of appointment scheduling in a frantic day-to-day world. Service customers, like retail customers, are accustomed to conducting business online, and self-serve appointment scheduling is a step many seem willing to take as a way to further streamline their lives.
Web-based scheduling is available anytime and from anywhere, via the Internet. There’s no software to install on your own PCs, and you don’t need anyone to run it. By posting your calendar to an online scheduling system, you or your customers can book appointments or reservations directly via a service provider’s Web site.
Here’s a rundown on some of the competing services.
• TimeDriver.com is a new Web-based service from TimeTrade, a firm that specializes in appointment-scheduling software and solutions for businesses of all sizes.
• Net Appointment has actually been around for almost 10 years offering 24/7 Web-based appointment scheduling for therapists, tutors, hair salons, financial advisers and other types of businesses. Fees start at $9.95 per month. Visit www.netappointment.com.
• AppointmentQuest.com offers online appointment scheduling via a range of service packages starting at $6.59 per month up to $159 per month.
• BookingCalendar.com bills itself as online appointment and event registration software for service-type businesses that include massage therapists, dog groomers, tax services, tennis clubs, fitness trainers, tour operators and golf pros.
• HourTown.com takes online scheduling a step further by combining it with Web-based advertising blasts that help your business fill available time slots. The backbone of HourTown’s system is an online calendar that looks like a traditional calendar page.
• Genbook.com offers a free online, appointment-scheduling service geared to local businesses.
• BookingAngel.com is an online booking system geared specifically to restaurants, which can sign up for a free trial and start receiving bookings immediately. •
Daniel Kehrer can be reached at
editor@business.com.
