This is Day 8 in the 31 Days to Become a More Efficient Virtual Assistant Series
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Rumor has it that appointment scheduling can make some weak in the knees or sick to the stomach. It can be time consuming and prone to error, especially when you’re working with people across multiple time zones.
TimeTrade is a cost-effective way to make the scheduling process significantly easier and more efficient.
This video will give you a visual and more detailed explanation of the items listed below.
(Pre-Note: The video mentions that I paid about $20 for an annual plan. After looking at their pricing page again I remembered that I got their annual plan at 50% off with a promotion they were running when I signed up.)
Reasons I love TimeTrade for Appointment Scheduling
Sample scenario: You offer one-hour sessions on Tuesday mornings and 30 minute sessions on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons.
It is easy to set up these variations in TimeTrade and you’ll have a unique link for each of the two options in the scenario above.
- Create a unique activity for each appointment type you have (e.g. a different link for 30, 60, 90 minute sessions)
- With each activity you can define the appointment times and days of the week (you also have the ability to create an appointment time as a one-time or recurring scheduling option)
Once you have defined the various activities you will have a unique scheduling URL to either put on your website or in other written communications, making it incredibly easy for people to book times that work best for both parties.
If you often travel or have dates you’ll be out of the office you’ll want to easily be able to “remove” availability from your calendar. What’s the easiest way to do this?
Connect TimeTrade to Your Google Calendar
You can connect your Google Calendar under your account settings in TimeTrade. Once you’ve connected the two you can easily go into your Google Calendar and block out an entire day (show as busy) and that will automatically reflect on your TimeTrade link so no one can schedule sessions with you on a day your traveling or otherwise out of office. (Credit for this tip goes to my business coach, Charlie Gilkey. Prior to him sharing the tip with me I was doing it the hard and clunky way, which is individually deleting from TimeTrade.)
If you haven’t watched the video yet, now would be a good time to do it as I also show how to switch between time zones, which can be really useful if you’re a virtual assistant setting up appointments for a client who lives in a different time zone than you are in. (Pre-Note: The video mentions that I paid about $20 for an annual plan. After looking at their pricing page again I remembered that I got their annual plan at 50% off with a promotion they were running when I signed up.)
TimeTrade does have a limited, free account and their paid plans are cost effective as well. Think of all of the back and forth emails you’ll eliminate by having it set up in your business.
Disclaimer: The link for TimeTrade is an affiliate link. As I’ve mentioned before, I won’t get rich if you use my affiliate links but I do appreciate it when you do. I am only an affiliate for tools I personally use and love.