Oh wow! Thank you! So comprehensive!Hi Frank, I’m a beauty therapist based in the U.K.
I have online scheduling software but I worked out what mixtures of bookings suited me before I enabled online booking. First I built up my business in the model that worked for me, only then did I allow clients to book online (and for the first year only existing clients could book online - the first appointment had to be booked via reception, even if it was only an email exchange).
For example I can make my money on lots of small value bookings or a smaller number of high value bookings, or a combination of the two. I asked myself what type of bookings I wanted for each day and time of day. Gradually I created an idea of dynamic availability where I would “save” premium times of day/days of the week for the high value clients I really wanted to be able to accept. and offer low value bookings in the time slots that were left.
I worked out the ideal times to offer certain treatments in order to maximise bookings, depending on the enquiry I might offer 10am/10:45/12:30 to enquiry A for a 30 minute booking and 10:30/11:30 to client B asking for 60 minutes. That way I’d minimise unbookable white space between appointments.
Managing the bookings became an increasingly complex activity. I trained my receptionist carefully - I worked out which treatments were most likely to be rebooked and over what timeframe so we then had VIP services which could be booked in the premium time slots and lesser ranked treatments which I would turn away.. I also gave her a template of what types of business (treatments) I wanted at different times/days throughout the week.
We used this as the template for rebooking clients, gradually steering them into the time slots that suited us.. We did the same thing for each therapist so that everyone was working in the way that best suited their skillset and preferences.
Once I’d worked this out it was easy to set my availability online to accept or deny different services throughout the day. Reception became a challenging role. I took it over myself and now I’m exploring using virtual reception services. Developing a “system” for how you want to book your time enables you to optimise productivity and profitability and build in business resilience.
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