How to increase your pre-booked appointments

While walk-in appointments can help fill in scheduling gaps and unexpected no-shows, no small business should rely on a revolving door of walk-ins as a secure revenue stream. To grow into a more mature business model, you need to encourage pre-booking and more consistent scheduling behavior from your clients. Offering opportunities to pre-book helps you build a more consistent schedule of clientele, which will in time allow you to grow your business and increase revenue.

How to encourage pre-booking to your clientele

When do you ask your clientele to book their next appointment? It shouldn’t be at the end of an appointment, when both you and the client are already thinking of other things. Instead, you should bring up the idea of pre-booking with your clients while you’re still with them.

How might you discuss the benefits of pre-booking? Here are some suggestions:

  • Discuss how your business operates and why it’s helpful for you
  • Focus on the benefit to your client – how they can book the best time earlier, and not have to worry later on
  • Share with them why you want to keep them as loyal clients

The idea of pre-booking might not come naturally to some of your clients, and if you want to really train your clients to practice booking behaviors that benefit you greatly in the end, you might want to consider incentivizing them. For example, you could offer small incentives such as $5 or $10 off their next service if they pre-book, or add on an extra service.

Adding online scheduling to your Facebook page

Another way to encourage pre-booking and build a more consistent schedule for your business is to add scheduling onto your Facebook page. This is a Full Slate feature that you can quickly set up. Just add the Full Slate application to your business’ page, and clients will be able to select from real-time openings synced from your Full Slate appointment ledger.

  • Step one: click on the Web > Facebook tab in your Full Slate account
  • Step two: Select the styling you want
  • Step three: Click the link to add to your page
  • Step four: Verify with Facebook

You’re done! A new tab: Schedule Now, will show up in the navigation of your Facebook page. This tab will list your services and your appointment availability. When clients schedule through Facebook, the appointment confirmations and alerts work the same as if they scheduled from your website.

How to encourage clients to schedule online

There’s an overwhelming movement towards clients booking and requesting appointments online, so offering online booking shouldn’t require much convincing. However, there are definitely ways you can alert your clients that you now offer online booking.

  • Send an email to your clients announcing your online booking options, with an easy link to your online booking page. Full Slate offers a ready-made email template titled “Client Invitation” to make this an even simpler process.
  • Mention online booking as an alternative to, or way to, pre-book – this can be added to the conversation you have about pre-booking during your client visits
  • Update your voicemail to let clients know that you offer online scheduling, and it is a quick, easy way to schedule their next appointment. Be sure to mention your website or that you offer online scheduling on Facebook

These are just some of the ways you can encourage pre-booking to your clientele, and pave the way for a more robust business plan for your salon, spa, or small business. For more tips like this, visit our blog at http://blog.fullslate.com/.

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Why Embracing Online Booking Will Lead to More Clients

If you’re a salon or spa who has yet to embrace online booking, you’re definitely leaving new business on the table.

According to a study conducted in 2015 by online marketing firm Yodle, 60% of those surveyed wanted their local businesses to provide online booking. One-third of customers said they expect online booking now from businesses, while another third said that it would make a business stand out from among competitors.

So let’s examine a few of reasons why embracing online booking will lead to more clients.

Online booking allows clients to book outside traditional business hours

The amount of people booking outside traditional business hours has increased year over year, and now over 42% of online bookings happen after business hours. The majority of customers asked in a recent book stated that they would choose to book online rather than scheduling an appointment by phone. Thus, allowing your clients to book outside traditional business hours gives you the ability to book more appointments and reach new clients.

Online booking allows clients to book from their mobile phones

Do you own a smartphone? Did you know that according to a 2016 Smart Insights poll, over 80% of internet users do? So with more people spending a large portion of their time on their phones, offering online booking at your salon or spa helps you reach these clients immediately. You’re more likely to get appointments if you give your clients the ability to book services on-the-go, and directly from their phones.

Online booking helps you stand out from your competitors

If you offer online booking for your clients, you will be one of the forerunners in the industry to offer such a convenience to your clients. As the Yodle study confirmed, your clients will not only appreciate the ability to book online, but will likely choose your salon or spa over one that does not offer online booking. If you choose an all-in-one software such as Full Slate, your clients will be able to search for appointments and book them directly from Google, as Full Slate is a preferred partner with Google’s new appointment scheduling platform: Reserve with Google.

Online booking decreases no-shows

All salons and spas struggle with no-shows and unconfirmed appointments, but online booking offers your clients a quick and convenient way to contact you, which increases confirmations and decreases no-shows and late cancellations. And with a software like Full Slate, you can even offer double-booking if you want, for those downtimes between long services.

To find out more about how online booking can help your salon or spa increase its revenue and attract more clients, click here.

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5 Reasons Why Full Slate is the Best Appointment Scheduling Software

If you’re a small business looking to grow your client base and stand out from the crowd, you need an appointment scheduling software that works as hard as you do. Thousands of small businesses place their trust in Full Slate, and so we wanted to present 5 reasons why we think Full Slate is the best appointment scheduling software for your business.

Reason No. 1: Full Slate offers online scheduling

If you’re goal is to book more appointments, you need to make booking a simple and convenient process for your clients. With Full Slate’s online scheduler, your business accepts appointments where your clients and prospects already are: online. If you don’t have the option for online scheduling, you may be missing out on new revenue!

Of course, you can still make appointments over the phone or in person, and add these into your schedule in Full Slate, so that all your appointments show in the same place.

Reason No. 2: Full Slate doesn’t tack on extra transaction fees

With Full Slate, you have the option to require clients to put a credit card on file, make a deposit, or pay in full when they schedule online. Full Slate integrates with several popular payment solutions so that all transactions are secure, and—unlike some other platforms out there—we don’t charge transaction fees or take a percentage of your sales.

Reason No. 3: Full Slate offers a feature-rich platform that’s customizable to your business

Full Slate scheduling software does it all. From automatically sending personalized emails on your behalf that drive repeat business, reviews, and referrals; to allowing quick online booking and accepting credit card payments and deposits—you’ll be able to customize your experience to perfectly match your business’ needs. Do you have multiple locations? No problem. You can share business hours and staff, and coordinate work across multiple offices. You can track client info, appointment history; and email correspondence all in one place; and you can even sell gift certificates and packages… plus so much more. For a full list of features, click here.

Reason No. 4: Full Slate syncs to QuickBooks and Checkout

No more switching back and forth between your scheduling software and accounting software, because Full Slate readily integrates with QuickBooks Sync, so you never have to manually double-enter data again. Plus, Full Slate also works with Checkout, so that you can collect payment and record them from within Full Slate and your transactions automatically upload to QuickBooks Online.  For more information on acquiring QuickBooks Online for your business, please visit https://quickbooks.intuit.com/online/

Reason No. 5: Full Slate offers unlimited appointments for a flat fee

At Full Slate, we know that your business is going to grow—and we don’t think you should be punished or charged for more appointments. That’s why we offer unlimited appointments at a flat monthly or yearly price, so that you can focus fully on growing your business, and not worry about tacked on fees.

There are just 5 of the reasons why Full Slate is the best appointment scheduling software for your business. But don’t take our word for it – you can try Full Slate for free! Sign up for your free trial by clicking here.

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Full Slate Partners with Google on Pilot Launch of Reserve with Google

Now Full Slate users in LA, NYC, and SF can accept client appointments directly from Google Search and Google Maps

Full Slate, the online appointment scheduling company for local businesses, today announced that it is an initial partner on the pilot launch of Reserve with Google.

As announced by Google this morning, Reserve with Google launches today as a limited pilot in three regions: Los Angeles, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area. As a result of today’s announced partnership, Full Slate merchants in these regions are now immediately able to accept appointments booked by Google users directly from Google Search and Google Maps.

“Full Slate’s mission is to help local businesses grow, and this exciting partnership with Google provides our merchants in the pilot regions with a very efficient new customer acquisition channel,” said John Nebergall, General Manager of Full Slate. “Accepting appointments directly from Google removes the need for a customer to leave search engine results pages, which we think will lead to increased bookings and more customers for Full Slate merchants.”

Reserve with Google functionality is being offered at no additional charge to Full Slate merchants in the program’s pilot regions. Full Slate plans to offer the functionality to merchants in additional geographies as the Reserve with Google pilot expands.

About Full Slate

Full Slate (www.fullslate.com) is the appointment scheduling company that helps local businesses grow. Thousands of businesses trust Full Slate’s appointment scheduling software to help fill more openings, reduce no-shows, convert new clients, and drive repeat business. Full Slate was founded in 2008 and acquired by Internet Brands in 2016.

 

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