Have you had the following scenario happen? A client walks in ready for her 12pm manicure and pedicure that is to be followed by a nutrient mask at 12:20 and a full body wrap afterward. There is a problem though. You have two others scheduled for the same time slots for the mask and another client scheduled for a pedicure at 12:05. You didn't make every appointment, one of the other ladies working for you did. This can easily happen if you don't have a handle on your scheduling procedures. While you could break down and hire a person to act as primarily a receptionist this can be an expense that would best be avoided.



Would This Be Expensive?

So, do you want accurate scheduling but without paying an arm and a leg. What options are available to today's business? Think about it. The one most powerful piece of equipment in your whole spa is usually close at hand. Your computer! How many people do you know that cruise the Internet regularly? Your business computer can be the one most important tool in your business. How can the computer help you? Easily. There are now online appointment scheduling systems available to business owners. This inline software can be used as an internal means of scheduling, or it can be configured so that your customers can book their appointments with you online, saving you and your staff a great deal of time. Imagine being able to access your business schedule from anywhere at any time and not have to worry about booking errors!

What's Really In It For Me?

While there are many different options for online scheduling software and services you should take the time to find one that fits your personal needs. Look for one that offers you the ability to book appointments whenever you need to, prevents overbooking and missed appointments, sends automatic reminders to your clients, and notifies you of all new appointments by email. This will free you up from spending so much time on the phone dealing with client scheduling. It will also allow you to better collaborate with your employees who may also be handling phone in appointments. Many of these services will also allow you to handle scheduling for more than one store front if you have multiple locations. They may even allow you to accept credit card payments online. Wouldn't it be nice to have the peace of mind that comes with knowing your business is running much more smoothly?

Learn how online scheduling maximizes client satisfaction and saves you time

Once you decide that computerized appointment scheduling is the way to go you must consider which route you want to take. On one hand you have the software available to install on your own system. Conversely, you have scheduling software that is online and subscription based. Let's look at the pros and cons of each.

Software on your machine:

- One time purchase

- Do not need to be online to access

- Customers cannot access; in house scheduling only

- Must maintain software and backup data

Online Subscription based software:

- Staff and customers can access from any browser, 24/7

- Nothing to download, install, maintain or backup

- Cannot access without an internet connection (schedules can be saved or downloaded for access during down times)

These days, internet connections are more reliable and more readily available. That fact, along with the added convenience of allowing customers to book their own appointments online, make online scheduling software a no brainer!

Whether you go the local software route or the scheduling software service route you have made an important decision. You have decided to take a step in the right direction toward the freeing yourself up to do more revenue generating things for your business by freeing yourself from the hassle of handling your own appointment scheduling.